Her gaze flicks briefly toward the kitchen, where Finn is deliberately clattering pans. “Funny coincidence.”
I don’t respond. I don’t need to.
She leans forward, chin in her hands. “You like him.”
It’s not a question.
“I…don’t know,” I admit. “He makes things quieter.”
Aisling softens immediately. “That’s not nothing, Lan.”
“I know.” My fingers tighten around the mug. “That’s what scares me.”
She reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “You’re allowed nice things. Even if they arrive wrapped in tall men with emotional restraint.”
I laugh, then wince as a faint wave of dizziness rolls through me.
Aisling catches it instantly.
“Hey.” Her voice gentles. “You overdid it, didn’t you?”
“Maybe a little.”
She stands, pressing a quick kiss to my hair. “I’m going to head off before you pretend you’re fine again and collapse.”
“Rude…but accurate.”
“Text me,” she says firmly. “If you dip. If you don’t. If you need noise or silence or distraction.”
“I will.”
She pauses at the door, glancing once more toward the kitchen, then back at me.
“He’s good for you,” she says quietly. “Whatever this is. I can tell.”
Then she’s gone, leaving warmth behind her like an echo.
But it fades faster than it should.
At first it’s subtle – a slight heaviness settling in my limbs, like gravity’s been dialled up a notch while I wasn’t looking. Then the nausea creeps back in, slow and insistent, curling low in my belly. I sink back against the sofa cushions, suddenly exhausted in a way sleep won’t fix.
The kitchen goes quiet.
Finn appears in the doorway a second later, eyes already sharp, already assessing. One look at my face and his jaw tightens.
“She’s gone,” he says.
“Just left,” I manage.
“You look worse.”
“I laughed,” I say weakly. “She’s a whirlwind. I think it took it out of me.”
He crosses the room in three strides and crouches in front of me, hands warm and steady as they bracket my knees. His thumb presses lightly into the inside of my wrist, finding my pulse without asking.
It’s racing.
“Lan,” he says quietly. “You’re not going back to work tomorrow.”