LOGINLiam kept his word after our final dinner.He never reached out again. At work he remained strictly professional, and to my quiet surprise his time management improved dramatically. I told myself I should be grateful. I had lost him, but in return I gained a version of him that no longer made me look incompetent in front of my boss. During the day I survived by filling every hour with schedules, site visits, and reports. As long as I kept moving, the emptiness stayed at a manageable distance.Home was where it found me.The loneliness that settled in after Liam was different from anything I had known before. I had always been alone and independent. It never used to feel like a wound. After him, it became unbearable. Sleep turned into a chore of restlessness and shallowness. The food lost its taste until the only things I could keep down were peanuts and water. I started waking at five in the morning, lying in the dark with my chest tight and my thoughts circling the same empty space.
After my lunch with Caitlin, I wasn't in the mood for anything or anyone at work. The conversation had left a heavy quietness in my chest that followed me all the way back to the office. I walked past my assistant and greeted her out of pure routine, barely registering her response.I never felt the need to confront Liam about his absence the day before. Some part of me already knew it would come up later that evening, and I didn't have the energy to deal with it twice.In the end, I accomplished almost nothing for the rest of the afternoon. I sat at my desk, stared at the same documents for longer than I should have, and eventually decided to leave. All I wanted was to go home, close the door behind me, and prepare myself for what was coming.At home, I took my time. I stood in front of the mirror longer than usual, choosing a simple outfit with more care than the occasion probably required. A black tracksuit, a nude crop top underneath, nude heels, and a small white pouch. I pulled
The first thing I did when I woke up on Tuesday was send the same message to both Caitlin and Liam.Can we talk?I booked them both for Friday. Caitlin for lunch, and Liam after working hours, around six in the evening, more like an early dinner. After sending that text, I never messaged her again, and neither did she. I believe she saw it as a small opening, the first time I had reached out since everything fell apart, even if the message itself was vague and careful.The difficult part with Liam was that I still had to see him every day at work. We kept our interactions strictly professional, and under different circumstances I might have been grateful for that. It was what I had always claimed I wanted between us. This time, though, it felt colder. Something had shifted. I felt it in the way he barely looked at me, in the way his voice stayed flat and distant whenever he had to speak to me about the project. No accidental touches. No quiet compliments. No lingering stares that used
You know how people feel when they listen to the song "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves? Completely light, happy, and free. Those were the exact emotions "The Place" brought out of me. Just pure relief. There was a calmness settling into my chest that I hadn't felt in a long time. The kind that made my shoulders drop and my thoughts slow down.Twice in a row I found myself being woken up early and actually feeling excited for it. Ready for a new day. No heavy sense of dread, no mental checklist of problems waiting for me. Just the quiet anticipation of whatever the day might hold.Sunday morning, our first stop was the animal husbandry side of the farm. Saturday had been more about horticulture, even though we hadn't managed to experience all of it due to limited time. Now we walked toward the animal shelters under a soft, clear sky. They gave us the chance to try milking cows, collecting the warm milk into metal buckets, and feeding the horses by hand. The animals were c
We are a month and a half away from the completion of the project I was managing.I randomly decided on a Friday that I needed a short vacation. A lot had been going on, and a weekend getaway was something I had been longing for.So I booked one at a ranch, courtesy of Mr. Hastings. He had been sold on the idea of investing in some kind of farm on his land instead of a warehouse. I had told him I would look into it and see if there was something he could like. Surprisingly, I came across one that I thought would fit just what I had in mind. An agritourism resort nestled amid sprawling pastures and rolling farmland. The luxury farm resort blended modern rustic elegance with an authentic agricultural lifestyle. From the photographs alone, it looked peaceful in a way that felt almost unreal.According to their advertisements, guests stayed in private timber-beamed cabins or restored barn suites, surrounded by tranquil orchards, livestock paddocks, and organic gardens. The experience cent
It is amazing how comfortable I've gotten around Liam. I do everything that I would normally do when I'm home alone, and I never felt guilty about it. He doesn't care that I don't fall under the traditional idea of a woman. I can't cook. I hate cleaning. I'm messy; whenever I'm at his place, I leave my clothes wherever I took them off. And I like being financially independent. I once jokingly told him that if we ever lived together, I would bankrupt us because I'm not good with money. We were in his simple but lived-in kitchen. Soft afternoon light filtered through the half-opened blinds, catching on the stainless-steel sink and the wooden cutting board still scattered with half-diced strawberries. Personally, I believe that if I can pay for something to be done, then I'll do exactly that."Don't worry, Princess. I'm fully equipped when it comes to taking care of a home,' he said with a chuckle as he sliced the strawberries in half.I was curious. That was something completely out of







