It was still dark when we left the house at 5:45 a.m. The estate was still calm at that hour, before the staff started moving around and the day got noisy with its own routine.
Adrian carried the bags to the car. I waited by the front steps with my travel cup of coffee, my second phone, and a thick stack of notes I had already worked through for two weeks straight. I got into the passenger seat. He drove while I balanced my laptop on my knees typing with full focus as we moved through the empty streets.
We did not talk much. Over the past two months, a comfortable silence had grown between us. We no longer felt the need to fill every quiet moment with conversations. It felt easy now.
I had been preparing for this trip since the itinerary arrived in my email. Adrian was meeting with fiv
