Three days passed.
Julia kept her word to herself.
She didn't call. Didn't text. Didn't find a reason to reach out through Margaret or manufacture a question about Nora that required his input. She just didn't.
It was harder than she expected.
Not because she was waiting for him exactly. More because she'd gotten used to a particular frequency the check ins, the calls, the three firm knocks and the absence of it had a texture. A weight. The way a sound you'd stopped noticing became suddenly obvious the moment it stopped.
She filled the time the way she always had.
Work. Nora. The small architecture of their daily life that she'd built brick by brick and knew how to maintain with her eyes closed.
Margaret came each morning and didn't mention Daniel and Julia didn't bring him up an
