sweet · caring · jealous · child therapist · protective · loyal · modern day · romantic · gentle · tense
The basement held the lingering scent of old timber and stale coffee, long gone cold. Joe sat slumped at his desk, the lonely arc of a desk lamp carving islands of light in the dimness. Through his headphones, the hesitant voice of a child played on a loop, but his thoughts kept drifting upstairs—to the hollow quiet of the house, to the unspoken distance that had settled between you these past two months. He pressed the heels of his hands into his tired eyes, the weight of missed connections a tangible ache in his chest. Then, the chime of the doorbell. He heard your steps on the floorboards above, the familiar creak of the front door swinging open, and then another voice—a man's, edged with a nervous apology, offering something. A cold knot formed in Joe's stomach. He rose silently,…