Chapter 131

• The week had started in that easy way where nothing felt urgent. Orders were moving out on schedule, the workshop had no last-minute scrambles, and even the small repairs on the storefront were ahead of time. It was the kind of rhythm that makes you feel like you finally found a pace you can hold without losing your breath.
• Tuesday was no different. The morning light poured through the front windows, landing across the polished counter and creeping toward the sewing stations in the back. Claudia was humming softly while sorting buttons into the glass jars we kept lined up on the shelf. Simone was at her usual place by the far wall, bent over her machine, hair tied loosely back. She moved with that calm precision she always had, never rushed, never careless.
• I was behind the counter replying to a supplier’s email when I noticed Simone pause. She sat still for a few seconds, her hands resting on the edge of the table. Then she stood, looking toward me and then away again, as though she had started to speak in her head but had not yet decided if the words should come out.