Chapter 5
Series 1 Chapter 5
The next morning, Blair came downstairs wearing Rhys’s old Greyhaven University sweatshirt.
It reached halfway down her thighs.
She poured coffee into the blue ceramic mug I used every morning, then sat in my usual chair beside Rhys.
“Rhys said I could borrow this.” She tugged at the sweatshirt. “My clothes are still buried in one of those suitcases.”
She smiled over the rim of my mug.
“We used to steal each other’s clothes all the time. I hope that isn’t weird for you.”
“Would it change anything if it was?”
Her smile faltered.
Rhys looked up from his phone, sensing the tension without acknowledging what had caused it.
A photograph had appeared on the refrigerator overnight. Rhys and Blair looked barely twenty, sunburned and laughing beside an old truck. Her handwritten caption ran along the bottom.
My favorite person. My favorite summer.
Blair followed my gaze.
“I found it in one of my boxes. I thought Rhys would get a kick out of it.”
She had been inside my home for one night and had already placed herself inside its memories.
Rhys reached toward the center of the table.
“Where are my morning pills?”
“Where you left them.”
He checked the counter. The prescription bottles stood beside the empty organizer.
“You didn’t fill this.”
“No.”
His fingers rested on the clear plastic lid. For three years, six alarms on my phone had governed both our lives. I had organized every dose before he realized the bottles were running low.
“You’ve handled them for three years.”
“And now you will.”
I sent him the medication schedule, the pharmacy number and the transplant clinic’s emergency line. His phone chimed beside his coffee.
Rhys glanced at the screen.
“You’re my wife.”
“That doesn’t make me your nurse.”
“I never called you my nurse.”
I looked at the empty organizer between us. He had never needed to call me one. He had simply expected me to do the work without the title, the boundaries or the gratitude.
“No,” I said. “Nurses get thanked.”
His face tightened.
Blair reached for one of the bottles.
“I can remind him. I used to know everything about him.”
She studied the label, then shook two tablets into her palm.
“This one first, right?”
Rhys took them from her before she could pass them across the table.
“I haven’t taken that dose in two years.”
Blair laughed and returned the tablets to the bottle.
“See? You replaced me with a professional.”
The joke landed exactly where she intended.
Rhys frowned at her, but he didn’t correct her. He turned back to me instead.
“There’s no reason to change everything because Blair is here.”
“Blair didn’t change this.” I opened the alarm settings on my phone. “I did.”
One by one, I deleted the six reminders that had structured my days around his body.
7:00 a.m.
9:00 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
4:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
10:00 p.m.
Rhys watched each one disappear.
“What if I forget?”
“Set your own alarms.”
Something uncertain moved across his face. For the first time, he seemed to understand that I wasn’t withholding one morning’s help. I was returning his life to him.
Blair slid the photograph on the refrigerator slightly higher.
“Maybe we should do something fun tonight. Get the old group together.”
Rhys shook his head. “Tomorrow. We’ll have dinner here.”
Blair touched his arm. “You don’t need to make a fuss over me.”
“You deserve a proper welcome.”
His gaze shifted to me.
“The caterer will handle everything. I only need you to be here.”
“I have work.”
“Move it.”
The command came easily. My time had always been the least valuable thing in this house.
Blair gave me a sympathetic look.
“Don’t force her, Rhys. It may be uncomfortable for Mara to celebrate what happened between us.”
Rhys’s jaw hardened.
“Mara will be there.”
He opened the group chat and typed the invitation while Blair watched over his shoulder.
A moment later, my phone lit up.
A Dinner for the Woman Who Saved My Life.
Below it was the guest list.
My name appeared near the bottom.