“Good,” I said, and meant it.
He didn’t continue right away. The words seemed to linger somewhere behind his expression, like he was weighing them, deciding whether he had the right to ask. I noticed it then—the hesitation, subtle but there—and something in me stilled, waiting.
“I was going to ask…” he said finally, the words coming slower now, like he had to push past something to get them out. “…would it be okay if Haille picked me up?”
He added quickly, as if softening it before it could sound like too much. “Avery can bring her. I just…” His throat bobbed. “I miss her.”
The image came to me instantly—Haille at the airport, spotting him, running into his arms, squealing the way she always did. It would make her happy. It would make him happy.
I could have said yes, but something in me resisted at the thought of not being there, of missing that moment entirely.
Instead, I said, “No.”
Adrian blinked, shock flickering across his face so quickly it almost made me regret it. Before he could respond, I added, steady and clear, “I’ll bring her.”
His entire expression shifted. It wasn’t dramatic, but it was immediate—like something inside him had loosened, something held too tight for too long finally giving way.
“You will?” he asked carefully, like he didn’t quite trust what he’d heard.
“Yes,” I replied simply.
His voice softened. “Elena… are you sure? You have work.”
I held his gaze for a moment. “What time does the plane land?”
He swallowed. “Around five.”
I nodded once. “Okay.”
His brows furrowed slightly, confusion slipping through at how easily I agreed.
So I smiled, small, almost amused. “I’ll leave work early,” I said. “I’ll check with Thomas.”
Adrian’s expression softened again, quieter this time, and something in my chest shifted with it. “Alright,” he said. “If you don’t mind…” He paused, then added more softly, “That means a lot to me.”
“I know,” I said, almost under my breath, before straightening slightly. “Just send me your flight details.”
Adrian looked at me like he was trying to understand whether this was real. Then he nodded, slow and certain. “Of course. I will.”
“Okay.”
Silence settled between us again. And this time, it didn’t feel empty. It felt… full. Heavy with something neither of us said out loud. I didn’t know what the future looked like. But talking toAdrian like this—night after night, over months—had changed something in me without asking for permission.
It had made him safe again.
Not the old kind of safe. Not the kind built on vows and certainty, but something different—the kind that existed because we had already lost everything once… and still managed to treat each other gently through the ruins.
When he said he was coming home next Wednesday, it landed right there, in that place in my chest that had never quite stopped loving him. I realized then, with a kind of quiet, ruthless honesty, that I still didn’t know what we would become. But I knew what I wanted.
I wanted to be the place he came home to.
CHAPTER 41
Adrian
After losing the one thing that had once meant everything to me, hope became expensive.
Hurting Elena and losing her was something I would regret for the rest of my life. The early days after our divorce were the darkest I had ever known. It felt like being caught in an explosion—sudden, violent, leaving nothing standing.
