Nathan
I was seated at the kitchen table, the late morning light pouring through the windows in a soft golden spill across the marble countertop, catching in the steam that curled upward from the cup of tea in front of me; a mix of cinnamon and peppermint, of all things.
Honestly, this was a combination I had never heard of before now, let alone thought to try, but Eleanor’s mother had pressed it into my hands with that same calm grace Eleanor had inherited, telling me to “just trust her,” before she disappeared from the kitchen with a mysterious smile and a promise to “be right back.”
So I waited. I hadn’t planned to spend the morning like this… sitting in someone else’s family kitchen, drinking tea that smelled like a holiday season and a medicine cabinet all at once… but there was s
