It started with the books.
Not a conversation about moving in. Not a formal discussion with a timeline and a plan. Just Daniel arriving on Tuesday evening with a box of books and asking if there was somewhere they could live.
Julia looked at the box.
At him.
"Just the books?" she said.
"For now," he said.
She looked at the shelves in the living room. Margaret's reorganization had created space that had been quietly waiting for something.
"Third shelf," she said. "There's room."
He put the books there.
Nora immediately came to inspect them.
She pulled one out something dense about economics that she clearly couldn't read but examined with the seriousness she brought to all books, regardless of accessibility.
"Is this good?" she asked.
"Not really," Daniel said honestly.
Nora
