That felt true too.
He looked at her then, more directly.
“And you?”
She let out a small breath.
“I’m still waiting for the floor to disappear.”
“It might not.”
“I know that intellectually.”
“But not in your body.”
She smiled faintly.
“Exactly.”
He nodded toward the dining room.
“Bodies take longer.”
Weeks passed.
Then months.
Lauren got stronger.
Not in one dramatic swell.
In quiet pieces.
She learned the systems.
Fixed bugs.
Shipped updates.
Argued over cleaner workflows.
Forgot what time it was because she was deep in a problem, not because she was counting hours until payday.
Denise gained a little strength back.
Not enough to call it victory.
Enough to call it movement.
Maddie stopped asking every visitor if they were leaving forever.
That was Ethan’s line, said one afternoon in the office parking lot after a doctor appointment had run late.
It broke Lauren’s heart cleanly in two.
