”Where are you going?
You should rest in our bed, I’ll sleep on the couch, I just—”
I turned at the door.
“You can’t fix it because you don’t even know what’s broken. You think it’s about the baby we lost. It’s about the baby you have coming with her. You don’t get to be sad with me and then go be happy with her. You don’t get both.”
His face fell apart.
“That’s not what I’m doing!”
”It is!” My voice got loud.
It hurt my throat.
“You want to ‘try again’ with me like we’re getting a new pet after the old one died! That baby wasn’t a pet, Zane! And I am not your backup plan! Not again!”
I slammed the door.
I locked it.
I heard him lean against the other side.
A soft thud.
Then, quiet crying.
He was really crying.
For the baby.
For the mess.
For the wife who locked him out.
I put my forehead against the door and listened to him cry.
I didn’t feel sad.
I didn’t feel anything.
Just tired.
Deep, bone tired.
Later, when it was dark and quiet, my phone buzzed on the nightstand.
It wasn’t from Zane.
It was from Vance.
The message had no hello.
No mention of the hospital.
No sorry.
My Partner: The Harrington merger papers are in your work file.
The board call is moved to Thursday.
Look at Section 4, clauses 7-12.
That’s where Alistair will focus.
I stared at the words.
They were cold.
All business.
They should have felt like a brush-off.
Instead, they felt like a rope.
He wasn’t giving me pity.
He was giving me the one thing that had kept me going before: a job.
Me: I’ll look at them tonight.
His reply came fast.
My Partner: Don’t.
Look at them tomorrow.
Sleep.
You’ll need to be clear-headed.
An order.
But underneath it, a small allowance that I was a person, not a machine.
It felt more solid than Zane’s shaky promises.
Another text came.
My Partner: The car will come at 8:45 tomorrow.
Be ready.
It wasn’t a question.
It was the plan.
And right now, his cold, clear plan was the only thing holding me together.
I had a time to be ready.
A car coming.
A call on Thursday.
I had something to get through.
The next morning, at 7:05, the doorbell rang.
I heard Zane move on the couch.
He opened the door, talked to someone.
A minute later, there was a soft knock on my door.
“Nerissa? A delivery for you.”
I opened the door a crack.
He handed me a small, nice box.
He looked confused.
I took it and closed the door.
I opened the box.
Inside, on some soft green moss, was a single white orchid.
It was beautiful.
Simple.
Next to it was a plain card.
No name.
Just three lines written in clean, sharp handwriting:
Take today.
Rest.
The papers will be there when you are ready.
I picked up the orchid.
I touched the smooth petals.
This wasn’t kindness.
It was a smart move.
He wasn’t giving me a day to cry.
He was giving me a day to put myself back together for the fight.
But it felt like a gift in my current situation.
I filled a glass with water and put it on the nightstand.
It was beautiful, but its perfection felt like a rebuke.
It was exactly what Vance would send: a symbol of control, of growth within defined parameters.
A part of me, the old Nerissa who loved wildflowers and messy gardens, wanted to throw it against the wall.
The woman I was becoming noted the strategic wisdom of keeping it alive.
That divide, more than anything, told me how far I’d gone.
I got back into bed.
My body hurt.
I was tired.
I would rest, like the note said.
But after an hour, I opened my laptop.
The Harrington documents were there, just like he said.
I started to read them.
Not because he told me to.
But because my mind needed the work.
I spent the day in bed, reading the dense legal papers.
The words were a good distraction.
Zane checked on me twice, bringing soup and more water.
He looked relieved I was still here, but he didn’t try to talk about ‘us’.
The orchid sat between us, a quiet reminder that someone else was in this with me.
That night, I finished Section 4.
I understood the clauses.
I was ready.
When the car came the next morning, I would be wearing my own armor again.
And the first thing I would do is walk into Vance’s office and prove that his calculated pause was the right move.