Vincent didn’t reject the effort. That was the worst part. He agreed. He said maybe they didn’t have to rush anything. Maybe they could “see how things felt.” Alexis clung to that phrasing like a lifeline. She rearranged her days.
Cooked dinners she hadn’t made in years. Tried to be lighter, softer, less… herself, in the ways he seemed to want. At work, at least, nothing officially changed. On paper, her role remained intact. But the atmosphere didn’t. Conversations stopped when she entered rooms.