She arrived at seven fifty-three the next morning, which was seven minutes earlier than usual, which she refused to examine.
She made coffee. She organized the morning reports. She aligned the documents on his desk with the precision she brought to all tasks and told herself she was not listening for the elevator.
He arrived at nine oh eight.
She heard him come down the corridor and kept her eyes on her screen and said good morning in the same tone she used every morning, and he said good morning in return and the door to his office opened and closed.
Everything was exactly as it had always been.
She finished the morning summary. She sent the correspondence. She handled two calls before ten and managed a scheduling conflict with Gerald's department with the efficiency she had develope
