As the late afternoon began to bleed into early evening, the sky turned a brilliant, bruised purple and gold. Simon packed up the picnic basket, and they started the slow walk up the gentle incline toward the very crest of the ridge to get a clear view of the sunset before heading back to the car.
Lily walked right between them. She reached up with her left hand, grabbing Simon's fingers, and reached out with her right to grab Audrey's. She skipped happily, swinging their arms as they walked up the grassy hill.
Audrey looked down at her daughter, feeling a deep, quiet peace settle over her. She glanced over Lily's head and caught Simon looking at her. The devotion in his eyes was so clear, so completely unguarded, that it made her breath catch.
Suddenly, a golden retriever chasing a frisbee dashed across the path a few yards ahead.
"Puppy!" Lily gasped. She immediately let go of both their hands and darted forward to get a better look, stopping safely at the edge of the path.
With Lily gone, the space between Audrey and Simon abruptly vanished. Their arms fell, and the back of Simon's hand brushed gently against Audrey's.
Neither of them pulled away.
They kept walking, step for step. A second later, Simon slowly turned his hand, his knuckles brushing hers once more before he tentatively, carefully, slid his fingers between hers. He didn't grip tightly; he just offered his hand, leaving the choice entirely up to her.
Audrey looked down at their joined hands. The warmth of his skin sent a familiar, comforting rush straight to her heart.She didn't let go. She gently closed her fingers around his, accepting the quiet connection as they walked up to watch the sun dip below the horizon.
Chapter 34
Simon
By the time the eighty-second day of the stipulation arrived, the atmosphere inside Dr. Thorne’s office had completely transformed.
The suffocating hostility that had defined their early sessions was gone. In its place was a fragile, hard-won honesty. Audrey no longer sat rigidly in the winged armchair bracing for an attack. She sat comfortably, her legs crossed, holding a cup of herbal tea. Across from her, Simon mirrored her relaxed posture.
"I noticed a shift this week," Dr. Thorne said, a warm, encouraging note in his voice. "Simon, when Audrey mentioned feeling overwhelmed with Lily’s school project on Tuesday, you didn't immediately try to fix it or take over. You just listened."
Simon offered a small, self-aware smile. "I'm trying to break the habit of managing her life. I realized that jumping in to 'save the day' was just another way of feeding my own ego. Audrey doesn't need a manager. She just needed me to hear her."
Audrey looked at him, the affection in her eyes undeniable. "It helped," she admitted softly. "For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a partner again, instead of another assignment."
"Trust is earned in these quiet moments," Dr. Thorne observed, making a final note on his pad. "You two have done incredible, grueling work over the past twelve weeks. We only have two sessions left before the ninety days conclude. I want you both to spend this week reflecting on what you want the next chapter to look like."
When they left the clinic that afternoon, Simon walked Audrey to her car, lingering by the driver's side door just to be near her for an extra minute. The progress they were making felt miraculous, a beautiful thing he was determined to protect at all costs.
But the real world had a terrible habit of interrupting peace.
The next morning, Simon sat at the small desk in his parents' guest house, staring at his laptop screen. An email from David, his senior partner at Lumière, sat in his inbox, flagged with high importance.
It was a formal summons. After four months of working entirely remotely, delegating his accounts, and doing everything in his power to distance himself from the agency, a massive contractual dispute with a legacy client required the physical signatures and presence of all acting partners.
Simon dragged a hand down his face, a knot of dread tightening in his stomach. He didn't want to go back there. He wanted to contact his lawyer, negotiate the sale of his shares, and walk away from Lumière entirely. The agency was tied to the worst version of himself. But legally, he had a fiduciary duty to sign the paperwork.
Reluctantly, Simon put on a dark suit for the first time in months and drove downtown.
The Lumière offices were exactly as sleek and pretentious as he remembered. Walking through the glass double doors, Simon felt entirely detached from the space that used to be the center of his universe. He ignored the surprised whispers of the junior staff and headed straight for the executive conference room.
The meeting with David and the client took two agonizing hours. Simon kept his input brief, professional, and entirely focused on getting the crisis resolved. As soon as the final contract was signed, he stood up, offered a polite handshake, and walked out.
He was halfway down the corridor, mentally drafting an email to his lawyer to begin the process of officially stepping down, when a voice stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Well. Look who decided to grace us with his presence."
Simon froze. He turned slowly, his blood turning to ice water in his veins.
Emily stood leaning against the doorframe of the breakroom. She was wearing a tailored, crimson dress that was clearly intentional, her arms crossed over her chest, a mocking, knowing smirk playing on her lips.
For a fraction of a second, Simon felt a violent, visceral wave of nausea wash over him. He didn't feel the old, pathetic thrill of validation. He just saw the walking, talking embodiment of the grenade he had thrown into his own home.
