The next few days passed in half-hearted texts, none longer than a line or two. When Lisa spoke to her in person, she was polite but distracted, her eyes flicking toward her phone mid-conversation. Helen began to wonder if she’d done something wrong, if maybe she’d said something careless, or sounded too critical the last time they spoke.
That uncertainty sat with her at night, long after the lights went out. She couldn’t name what had changed, only that it had. And for the first time in years, the steadiness she’d built her life around began to feel fragile. By the weekend, Helen had convinced herself things would smooth over.