Not Fine

CHAPTER FORTY ONENot FineAria's POVI knew by ten in the morning that it was going to be one of those days.Not dangerous. Not the kind that required a call to Dr. Mensah or anyone else. Just hard. The specific kind of hard that pregnancy produces without warning or reason, where your body simply decides it has been cooperative long enough and would like the day off, and doesn't particularly care that you have six weeks to a show and fittings starting at noon.My back had been aching since before I left Nina's. Not the low persistent ache I had learned to manage but something higher and sharper that arrived somewhere between the bus stop and the studio entrance and didn't leave. By ten it had settled into something I could only describe as my entire spine reconsidering its commitment to the project.My feet had swollen enough by midmorning that I had to take my shoes off under the desk, which Adaeze noticed and pretended not to.I had eaten breakfast but my stomach was doing somethi

Sunday Morning

CHAPTER FORTY TWOSunday MorningAria's POVHe came on Sunday.Not because anything had happened. Not because anyone had texted him or there was a legal development or a studio crisis or any of the things that had given us reasons to be in the same place over the past two months. He came because it was Sunday and Nina was out with Daniel and I had sent him a message at nine in the morning that said simply are you busy and he had replied no and I had said come over then and he had.He stood in the doorway when I opened it and looked at the space the way he always did when he arrived somewhere, quick and thorough, taking it in before his expression settled. He had been here before but only briefly, only with food and a specific purpose. This was different. This was just Sunday.He came in and I closed the door and he stood in the middle of Nina's living room looking at the evidence of the last two months. The fabric swatches still on the coffee table from yesterday. The notebook on the

The Delay

CHAPTER FORTY THREEThe DelayAria's POVSandra called on Tuesday with the tone she used when something had happened that she needed to manage carefully before she explained it.I had learned to recognise that tone. It meant sit down if you aren't already sitting.I was at my desk at the studio. I stayed where I was."Margaret's legal team has filed a motion to push the trial date back," Sandra said. "Six weeks. They're citing the complexity of the financial evidence and requesting additional time for their own forensic review."I was quiet for a moment."Six weeks," I said."Yes.""That puts it past the show.""It does.""And past the baby's due date.""Potentially, yes. Depending on timing."I pressed my lips together and looked at the studio wall, the collection hanging there, five weeks out, everything in motion."Can we oppose it?" I asked."We already have," Sandra said. "I filed this morning. The judge will rule on the motion within the week. There's a reasonable chance it gets

Vivienne Leaves

CHAPTER FORTY FOURVivienne LeavesAria's POVVivienne called on a Thursday evening, three days before the wedding.I was at Nina's, the notebook open on the kitchen table, working on nothing in particular, just drawing because my hands needed something to do while my mind processed the week. When her name appeared on the screen I looked at it for a moment before answering, not because I didn't want to talk to her but because I hadn't heard from her since the coffee shop weeks ago and I needed a second to locate where I was with that.I answered."I'm leaving the city," she said. No greeting. Straight to it, the way she always spoke, like a woman who had learned that preamble cost more than it was worth. "Next week. I've taken a position in Paris. Design consultancy. I wanted to tell you before I went.""Paris," I said."I've been offered it three times over the last two years," she said. "I kept saying no because." She paused. "Because I kept thinking things here were going to resolv

Coming Home To Look

CHAPTER FORTY FIVEComing Home To LookAria's POVHe asked on Friday, two days before the wedding.Not to move back. Not as a decision. Just to come and look. Those were his exact words in the message, which I read at the studio during lunch while Kwame was telling Adaeze something about the ninth look that I was only half listening to.I've had the study cleared and the window fixed. I'd like you to see it before the wedding if you want to. Not to pressure anything. Just to see it. Come and look whenever you're ready.I read it twice. Then I put my phone down and went back to the fitting notes and thought about it for the rest of the afternoon without deciding anything.At five o'clock I texted him.I'll come tonight. After six.His reply was immediate.I'll be here.The house looked the same from the outside.Of course it did. Houses don't change their faces because the people inside them have changed. But I stood on the pavement for a moment before I went up the steps, just looking

The Drive Home

CHAPTER FORTY SIXThe Drive HomeAria's POVHe drove me back.I hadn't asked him to. He had simply picked up his keys when I reached for my coat and said "I'll drive you" in the tone that was not quite a statement and not quite a question and which I had learned meant he had already decided but was leaving room for me to say no.I didn't say no.The city was quiet at that hour, the late-evening kind of quiet that belongs to a Friday when the earlier rush has settled and the night is still finding its pace. We drove without talking for a while and the silence was the good kind, warm from dinner, warm from the kitchen and the study and everything that had happened in the house tonight that neither of us was going to reduce to a summary.At a red light he looked across at me."How do you feel?" he asked."Good," I said. "Lighter than I expected.""What did you expect?""I don't know. Something harder. Going back there for the first time I thought I'd feel more of what I used to feel in i