We returned to the city before noon. The mist from the coast still clung faintly to the sleeves of my jacket, and my shoes carried traces of sand I had not wanted to shake off. I felt different stepping into the boutique again, like my body remembered something the air could not. My fingers were steadier. My thoughts quieter. For the first time in a long while, I was not carrying all of it alone.

Julian unlocked the front door while I held a paper bag from the bakery near the inn, the scent ...