Chapter 44
Morning arrived already wrong.
The body felt heavy and foreign, as if the night had rearranged something essential without permission. Ordinary sounds from the street outside seemed too sharp. The smell of Cole’s coffee, usually tolerable, turned the stomach before the first full breath could be taken. Even the soft sweater that had been comfortable the day before now felt rough against the skin.
Hormones had stopped being a mild inconvenience. They had become a tide.
Helen took one look from the hallway and called the others. By morning, the apartment held three women, a bag of salted crackers, sliced fruit, and a standing agreement that no one would comment too directly on the tears that kept arriving without clear cause. Maya rubbed circles on the back of a shaking should
