The Lamplighter was packed, the dinner rush in full swing, but Caspian only had eyes for one thing. Laura. She moved between tables with practiced ease, her posture upright, her smile in place—but he saw the exhaustion in her eyes. She had barely stopped all night.
She was managing everything at once—checking on customers, adjusting orders for the kitchen, handling a minor issue with a supplier over the phone—all without pausing to breathe. And yet, no one else seemed to notice.
The staff saw her as their rock, the one who held everything together. The customers saw a capable, confident woman who ran a successful restaurant. But Caspian saw what she wouldn’t let anyone else see.
He saw the tension in her shoulders, the subtle way she rubbed the back of her neck when she thought no one w
