Chapter 33
Morning light came softly through the curtains.
I woke to the low sound of voices in the hallway and the smell of something warm from the kitchen. For a few seconds, I lay still and tested my body. The nausea was present but milder than the day before. The deep fear from the night’s conversation had settled into a quieter anxiety that sat under my ribs and waited.
Cole had accepted what I told him. He had not asked me to leave. That knowledge still felt fragile, as if it might change if I looked at it too hard.
A knock sounded at the apartment door. I heard Cole open it. Helen’s voice carried first, followed by Maya and Patricia. By the time I sat up and smoothed my clothes, the living room had filled with the same women who had watched me faint in the laundry room.
Helen h
