Morning settled into the house with a quiet kind of certainty, the kind that didn’t ask permission before it arrived.
Ava woke before the alarm.
Her eyes opened slowly, not from rest, but from the weight of thoughts that had refused to loosen through the night. For a moment, she remained still.
She listened to the faint rustle of movement.
Closet doors and fabric shifting.
She turned her head slightly.
He stood near the wardrobe, already dressed, his back to her as he adjusted his cufflinks with careful precision. The suitcase lay open on the bed, neatly packed—her work from the night before, every item folded and placed with attention she hadn’t been able to give her own thoughts.
Ava pushed herself up, the sheets falling softly around her as she sat.
“You’re ready already,” she s
