The math terrified Laura more than emotion did. Numbers offered no comfort. She calculated timelines, rent, deposits, and contingencies. Each figure narrowed her future. Fear sharpened as she realized love could vanish quietly, but finances collapsed loudly, without mercy, forcing decisions she was unprepared to make alone.
Her savings were modest, earned carefully over years of steady work. She had planned responsibly, quietly proud of that discipline. Yet the numbers mocked her now. They offered survival, not security. Enough to endure change, not enough to rebuild a home or replace what was being taken from her suddenly.