Weeks settled into a steady rhythm faster than I expected, each evening shift at the club adding another layer of familiarity to what had initially felt like an overwhelming, unfamiliar world. My hands no longer fumbled over unfamiliar bottles, and my confidence behind the polished bar had grown considerably since that nervous first trial shift. Something resembling actual competence had finally started replacing the desperate uncertainty that once defined nearly every moment of my existence in this city.
Mara mentioned one morning over breakfast that I seemed genuinely different lately, steadier somehow, less haunted by whatever shadows had followed me from Ashworth territory during those first exhausting days. I considered her observation carefully, recognizing the truth in it even as o
