The difference was subtle at first. It was so subtle that Nora almost convinced herself she was imagining it, a trick of the light or a flicker of her own exhaustion. But by the fourth consecutive visit, it was no longer something she could dismiss.
Adrian did not announce himself with disruption anymore. He did not arrive with the loud, abrasive demand of a man reclaiming lost territory. Instead, he arrived like time itself: predictable, measured, and entirely certain.
Ethan had already started waiting. He didn't do it visibly, and there was no childish excitement that demanded attention. It was a quieter awareness, a glance toward the door at the expected hour, a pause in his activity, a silent readiness that had become part of his day without any instruction from her.
That, more than
