Distance announced itself in ordinary ways.
An empty chair at the table. A phone call instead of a glance. Morning routines no longer overlapped.
Bella felt it most acutely on the plane.
As New York shrank beneath the clouds, she didn’t cry. She didn’t second-guess. She watched the city recede with a steadiness that surprised her.
She wasn’t running.
She was expanding.
San Francisco greeted her with fog and possibility.
The startup’s office was nothing like the polished glass towers she’d grown used to—open space, exposed brick, creative chaos. People spoke quickly, listened carefully, and asked questions that had nothing to do with Julian Devereux.
That mattered.
Her first meeting was intense, collaborative, invigorating. By the end of the day, Bella’s head buzzed... not with anx
