Archie
I found Thea in the kitchen the following evening, later than I usually sought her out, though I'd been turning over the idea all day and hadn't managed to talk myself out of it despite how unusual it felt. I wasn't a man who typically asked permission for anything. My father certainly never had, not from anyone, and I'd built most of my life on the same quiet assumption that permission was something other people needed, not something I did.
But this felt different. Fiona felt different.
Thea looked up from the counter when I walked in, something in her expression shifting slightly, more careful than usual, though I assumed that was simply my own nerves projecting themselves onto her.
"Mr. Chester. Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine," I said, sitting down at our usual t
