Elena's POV
"You're quiet today."
Ruth set a cup of coffee on my desk, studying me with the same careful attention she'd used every morning since I'd started, though something in her expression today carried more weight than usual. "More quiet than the family dinner would explain, I think."
"Just tired." I wrapped both hands around the cup, grateful for the warmth, though it did little to ease the exhaustion sitting heavy behind my eyes. I hadn't slept much, my mind circling the unnamed photograph propped against my lamp until the earliest hours of the morning, guilt and uncertainty tangling together into something I couldn't quite untangle even now.
"Mm." Ruth didn't push, though she lingered a beat longer than necessary before returning to her own desk, leaving me alone with the quie
