“Technically.”
“That bad?”
I sat up and tucked one leg under me. “It has been a week.”
“It’s only Tuesday. How was therapy?”
“Complicated.”
“That sounds productive.”
“It probably was.”
Cris laughed quietly. “Well. I was thinking we could take a walk this weekend. Nothing ambitious. Just one of the easier trails.”
“That sounds nice,” I admitted.
“And your ankle?”
“Functional. Should be up to the task by the weekend.”
“Good.”
The warmth in her tone seeped into my chest. Our friendship had grown quickly since I arrived here, and much faster than I expected. What started as casual had turned into something more stable.
So far, Cris didn’t demand excessive emotional labor. She didn’t expect me to fix her life. She showed up. She listened and offered companionship without pressure.
It felt… safe. For now.
We settled on a time for a short trail walk and ended the call a few minutes later.
My thoughts returned to Liam almost immediately.
That was becoming a pattern.
I stood and carried my coffee back into the kitchen.
Maybe it was time to reach out. Not today. But soon. A small step. Something cautious. Something honest.
I stoodup from my desk and rolled my shoulders back as I walked to the kitchen to get more coffee. As I turned to the machine, a frantic knock suddenly sounded at my front door.
I froze.
The knocking came again. Fast. Urgent.
I set my mug down and went to open the door.
Mei stood in the hallway, her hair loose around her shoulders, her chest rising quickly as she breathed unevenly. She looked terrified.
“Please,” she said immediately, gripping the doorframe. “Please tell me Bobbi is here.”
“No...”
Her shoulders dropped immediately with a defeat that made my stomach twist. “Oh,” she said.
I stepped aside instinctively. “Come in for a second.”
She shook her head quickly and glanced down the hallway behind me as though Bobbi might appear if she looked hard enough. “The AirTag in her necklace stopped updating about twenty minutes ago.”
