Mandy's POV
The apartment was quiet, the kind of quiet that felt deliberate. Lucas sat across from me on the couch, his posture relaxed but his eyes sharp, like he was trying to read me without overstepping.
For once, he wasn’t trying to fix anything. He wasn’t offering solutions or apologies or declarations of how much he’d changed. He was just... there.
It was strange, this version of Lucas. Softer. Patient. It made me nervous, like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel myself relax, just a little.
We talked about nothing in particular—work, the weather and somehow the conversation drifted to the past, and we ended up laughing about a memory I hadn’t thought of in years. It was one of those rare moments when things between us had been easy, uncomplicated.
I mean, I didn’t realize how much I’d missed that.
“I’ll grab us some tea,” Lucas said, standing and heading to the kitchen.
So, I nodded and watched him go. The silence
