Witness.
Finally learning what love actually looked like when you stopped trying to manage it.
Day twenty-seven brought the notification Maggie had been dreading.
Administrative Leave Ends: November 17th Return to Work Orientation: November 16th, 8:00 AM Required Documentation: Ethics Training Completion Certificate, Monthly Supervision Schedule with Dr. Chen.
Maggie stared at the email for ten minutes before she could bring herself to respond.
Confirmed. I’ll be there. -ML
She set her phone down and realized her hands were shaking.
Three days. Three days before she had to walk back into Oakridge, back into the life she’d built so carefully, back into the scrutiny and whispers and weight of everyone’s expectations.
Three days before she and Evie would have to navigate seeing each other at work without touching, without standing too close, without letting anyone see how much they meant to each other.
Six months of that.
The thought made her nauseous.
Her phone buzzed.
Evie:Saw the email. How are you feeling?
Maggie:Honestly? Awful.
Evie:Want company tonight?
Maggie:Always.
When Evie arrived that evening, she brought Thai food and wine and a fierce determination in her eyes that Maggie recognized immediately.
“We need to talk,” Evie said, setting the bags on the counter.
“That sounds ominous.”
“It’s not. It’s practical.” Evie pulled out plates, moving around Maggie’s kitchen with the ease of someone who’d done this dozens of times. “You go back in three days. We need to set expectations. Boundaries. Rules for how this works.”
Maggie leaned against the counter, watching her. “You’ve been thinking about this.”
“Of course I have. So have you, if the panic spiral I can see in your eyes is any indication.”
“I’m not panicking.”
Evie raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, I’m panicking a little,” Maggie admitted.
They sat on the couch with their food, facing each other the way they’d done that first night after everything fell apart—when Evie had laid out her conditions and Maggie had agreed to try.
“Ground rules,” Evie said. “First: At work, we’re professional. Not cold, not strangers, but appropriate. We can say hi in the hallway. We can be in the same meeting. But no lingering. No private conversations unless they’re about a patient and someone else is present.”
Maggie nodded. “Agreed.”
“Second: We don’t hide the fact that we know each other. People already know we were involved. Pretending we’re complete strangers will just make it weirder.”
“What do we say if someone asks?”
