ELARA'S POV
We got back to Seattle on a Wednesday and I had forty-eight hours before everything at the gallery demanded my full attention again.
I used them to breathe.
Damien gave me space without being asked, which was new enough that I still noticed it. He worked from his home office, ordered food, didn't fill the quiet with conversation. We existed in the apartment together comfortably, which sounds simple but had taken us the better part of a year to achieve.
Friday morning I was back at the gallery when Natasha called.
"Julian accepted the Cape Town assignment."
"I know. Damien told me."
"He's actually excited about it. He won't say that, but I can tell." A pause. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For telling Damien to find him something real to do. Julian doesn't know how to exist
