The 100-Day Goodbye のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 24

The sun had barely risen when Arthur walked into the sunroom. The light was a pale, weak gray, casting faint shadows across the empty easel and the small tables cluttered with half-used paint tubes. Evelyn was already there. She was sitting in a low wicker chair, wrapped in a thick wool blanket, staring out at the damp garden where Arthur had attempted to dig the day before. Arthur held two mugs of warm water with lemon. He set one down on the small table beside her, his movements cautious. "You're up early. Did the cough keep you awake?" "No," Evelyn said, her voice thin but clear. She didn't look at the mug. "The house was just too quiet. When it's this quiet, every tick of the hallway clock sounds like someone tapping on the door." Arthur sat down on the matching wicker chair opposite her. He looked tired. The dark circles under his eyes had deepened over the last forty-eight hours, and he hadn't shaved. "Julian’s deadline is in four hours. The courier leaves his office at eleve

The rain returned on Day Twelve, not with the fierce howling of a storm, but as a steady, gray mist that blanketed the courtyard and turned the garden soil into a dark sludge. Inside, the house felt warm and smelled of cinnamon and baked apples. Claire had taken over the small breakfast nook near the kitchen, laying out a vast assortment of colored pencils she had unearthed from an old trunk upstairs. Arthur walked into the sunroom carrying a small tray. On it sat a bowl of oatmeal with a side of sliced bananas and a glass of milk. He set it down on the low table next to Evelyn’s wicker chair, his eyes immediately assessing the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "Martha adjusted the spices," Arthur said, pulling up the low stool to sit near her. "She said the cinnamon helps with the morning nausea." Evelyn picked up the spoon, stirring the warm oats slowly. "Where is Claire? I heard her dragging something down the hall earlier." "She’s setting up what she calls a 'creative stat