She arrived on a Sunday with one bag and a box of pastries and the particular energy of a person who has been looking forward to something for long enough that arriving feels almost surreal.
I met her at the door and she walked in and stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked around slowly. Not at the apartment specifically. At the feeling of it. The way a place feels when two people have been living honestly inside it for long enough that the honesty has settled into the walls.
She said: it feels different from what I imagined.
I said: different how.
She said: warmer. Less like a show apartment. More like somewhere people actually live.
I said: we do actually live here.
She said: I know. That is exactly what I mean.
Damien came out of the study and Nina looked at him and he l
