Chapter 55 Turning The Page

• Celia sat in the quiet of the living room, the soft light of the evening casting a warm glow across the space. The air in the house felt different now, lighter somehow. The tension that had once filled every corner seemed to have dissipated, replaced by a fragile sense of peace. Alexander had finally opened up, the walls he had built around himself starting to crumble, at least in part. She could feel it, that shift. The distance between them had lessened, and though the cracks in their relationship weren’t healed yet, they were closer than they had been in weeks.
• She wasn’t sure what had changed, exactly. Maybe it was his decision to try, or maybe it was the tenderness in his eyes when they spoke now. She didn’t know, but she felt a glimmer of hope that things could be different—that they could be different. She still loved him, and she still wanted to make it work, despite everything they had been through.
• But that feeling of hope, however promising, was still fragile. There was something lingering in the back of her mind that she couldn’t shake. Something she hadn’t fully dealt with yet. The offer Lucas had made still hung over her like a cloud, its weight pressing down on her heart. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.