---
After that, Julian stayed away for three days.
I used the time well.
The pet clothing and accessories I'd been making and selling at the market had always attracted good attention — several regulars had told me to open a proper shop. I'd never had the capital or the time. Now I had both.
I set up an online shop and bought some equipment to start doing live craft sessions. The spare room in the townhouse had a good north-facing window. Julian had kept it clear during our first marriage so I'd have a space to make things. I set it up as a proper studio.
When Julian finally came back, I was eating lunch.
He went to the kitchen, looked around, came back looking uncertain.
"You didn't make me anything?"
"I didn't think you were coming back."
He didn't have an answer to that. I got up and started making him something. Standing over the hob I suddenly remembered how it had been before — I used to cook and keep a plate warm, every single evening, even on the nights Julian never came home and I ended up throwing it away.
I'd forgotten to do it. Just forgotten.
I brought the food through and we ate in silence.
After a while, Julian said: "There was a project issue. I was sleeping at the office."
"Right."
I thought about it, then added: "That sounds exhausting. I'll run you a bath later."
He looked at me for a long moment. Then he rubbed his face.
"You haven't texted me once in three days."
I used to send him thirty, forty messages a day. Little things — what Lily had said at breakfast, something that made me think of him. He'd rarely reply, but I kept sending them.
"I didn't want to get in the way."
Julian stared at me.
"You think you'd be in the way? That's what you think?"
"I don't know what you're doing when you're not here. I'd rather not disturb you."
He said nothing for a while. Then his phone lit up — Victoria's name on the screen.
He looked at me and answered it in front of me.
I stood up quietly and went to the balcony to bring the washing in.
"There's a situation with Victoria," he said when I came back in with an armful of laundry. "I won't be long."
I handed him his jacket from the hook. "Go on. She needs you."
He gave me a long look. Then he left.