It is an easy enough thing to adjust, years of observation allowing her to see the impact coming before she consciously registered it. With only slight adjustment, she dodged the young woman without a second thought. The only display she offered was a side-long glance at the girl, and then a momentary pause on her way into the store.
That face was familiar, somehow. It would not do to admit it out loud, not in her line of work, but she stood there studying the girl all the same. Distraction was evident on her face, or perhaps it was the long hours these low-wage workers tended to keep. The smell of smoke still clung to the girl’s uniform and hair, the break-room reek of less healthy coworkers, twitched at something in Julia. What she would not give for a cigarette in that moment. What she would not give to be able to put a name, or a place, to such a pretty face.
“Sorry,” she muttered, though no damage had been done, and the whole affair began with the girl’s distraction rather than Julia’s.