The alarm never even got a chance to beep. Lara’s eyes snapped open at 6:12 a.m., body already buzzing before her brain caught up. Downstairs the front door had clicked shut twenty minutes earlier—husband gone to the early shift, kids still asleep at their grandparents’ for the week. The house belonged to her again.
She didn’t bother with coffee. Didn’t bother with clothes.
She walked straight to the bedroom, the one they still called “theirs” even though he slept on the couch half the nights now. The full-length mirror stood against the wall opposite the bed—tall, unforgiving, no flattering angle. She’d always avoided looking too long. Today she wanted every inch.
Lara pulled the sundress over her head in one motion and let it drop. Naked. Skin still warm from sleep. She stepped closer
