After an emotional encounter at the baby store, Tobias silently accompanied Mariel to buy some things. Both were processing the complexity of their emotions and the strangeness of their reunion. Seeing Mariel, pregnant and radiant, felt both familiar and surprisingly new to him. The conversation about where Tobias would stay arose naturally, though laden with an underlying tension that revealed the delicacy of their current situation.
He had rushed out of San Francisco to find her, having crossed half of Spain to reach her, and he had done so in the most unexpected way possible.
“You don't have to stay in a hotel, Tobias. You can stay at my house. It will only be a few days,” Mariel insisted as they had many things to catch up on.
Tobias, however, was hesitant, driven by a deep respect
