The house didn’t return to normal.
That was the first thing I noticed.
Not immediately.
Not in a way that disrupted movement or routine.
But in the pauses.
In the spaces between actions.
In the moments where control usually existed—
But didn’t fully settle.
⸻
Shawn moved through the morning as he always did.
Precise.
Efficient.
Uninterrupted.
Coffee prepared the same way. Files reviewed in the same order. Calls answered with the same measured tone.
Nothing—
On the surface—
Had changed.
And yet—
Something had.
⸻
“You’re recalibrating,” I said.
Not an assumption.
An observation.
He didn’t look up from the document in his hand.
“No.”
A pause.
Then—
“Adjusting.”
A distinction.
Small.
But deliberate.
⸻
“Because of her,” I added.
His hand stilled for half a secon
