(Lena)
By the time I got back to my room the house felt louder than the office had. Doors opening, footsteps, voices from another room, all of it carrying through walls I no longer wanted to share. I set my bag down, took off my shoes, and opened my laptop anyway. Work was still the fastest way to make everything else smaller.
The guest cottage proposal waited where I'd left it. Existing structure review, furnishing scope, exterior updates, phased options, budget ranges. Useful words for useful problems. I read through the page once and started tightening the language.
My phone lay beside the keyboard face down. I ignored it on principle at first. Then I ignored it because I knew who it would be. Then I ignored it because wanting to check was reason enough not to.
It vibrated once agai
