The sun woke us before the alarm could. It streamed through the shutters, cutting bright lines across the duvet, illuminating the dust motes that danced in the stillness of the room. I lay there for a moment, watching the light shift as the earth turned, feeling the warmth on my face. Marcus was already awake, propped up on one elbow, watching the light change on the ceiling as the sun began to rise behind the clouds. There was no lingering sleepiness this morning, no drifting transition from dreams to reality. There was only the immediate weight of the day. The book launch event was in three days. The security briefing was scheduled for nine. The foundation crisis meeting was at eleven. The school parent-teacher conference was at two. It was a triangulation of pressures, each pulling at a
