Chapter 86 String You Along?

• The smell hit her first—sweet, spicy, and comforting in a way that felt almost too generous for the kind of day she’d had. Rosie took it in like it was medicine, something ancient and healing. Pad Thai, green curry.
• They sat on opposite ends of his neat sofa. Minimalist, plush, a little too clean-looking for how chaotic her mind felt. The takeout containers were spread across the coffee table, as if this were normal. As if the last forty-eight hours hadn’t ripped something in half inside her. She picked at the noodles with mechanical effort, appetite not quite present, but not entirely gone either.
• Alistair didn’t speak at first. He watched her, but not in that way people do when they’re waiting for you to start crying or apologizing. His gaze was gentle. Steady. Almost maddening in how unbothered it seemed.