The first week of Emma's training changed everything.
Not dramatically — not with fireworks or grand gestures. The change was quiet, creeping in like morning light through a curtain. Emma left the penthouse at 8:00 AM and returned at 5:00 PM. She came home tired but alive, her notebook full of scribbled insights, her mind full of stories that weren't hers.
Nick was happy for her.
He was.
But he was also struggling.
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The struggle started small.
On Tuesday, Emma forgot to make coffee. Nick stood in the kitchen at 7:30 AM, staring at the empty pot, realizing he didn't know how to work the machine. Emma had always made the coffee. Even when she was his assistant, even when she was just staying over, even when she was exhausted — she made the coffee.
He figured it out eventually. But
