Three days after the heavy emotional fight, their home was still covered in subtle yet real tension. They spoke to each other more softly now, more carefully. But there was also something new in the way they interacted. There was deeper honesty. There was fuller acceptance.
Emma returned to her writing with new energy. She wrote about the fight with courage and honesty she had never possessed before. She didn't try to simplify the conflict into something easy. She wrote about the real complexity, about how two people who love each other could also hurt each other with their own words.
Marcus went to the office as usual, but he looked slightly different. There was something he was thinking about. Emma noticed it, how his eyes focused on the distance at breakfast, how he sometimes smiled to himself as if he held a secret.
On Friday morning, Marcus arrived home with his work bag and something else. He held a book with a dark cover and a beautiful dust jacket.
