AT THE SAME TIME
ISABELLA
Evening settled into my apartment like a tired cat. The lights were low, the air still smelled faintly of coffee grounds and sugar, and my shoes were kicked off in surrender by the door. I had changed into an oversized sweater and pajama shorts the official uniform of emotional survival. Xavier had left an hour earlier. A meeting. Of course, it was a meeting. He had hesitated at the door like he wanted to say something else, then thought better of it. He always did. Control first, vulnerability later, I knew the pattern too well for someone who had not lived it before, or maybe I had. A knock broke the silence. I didn't jump this time, and that was progress. When I opened the door, Wanessa stood there with a paper bag in one hand and Michael behind her holding a box that smelled aggressively like takeout.
"We brought reinforcements." Michael announced. "And noodles."
