CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
NORA
Month Eight
The first regular-season game begins with my credential visible and my relationship visible too.
I choose to shoot from the official photo bay. Not the private suite. Not the hidden corridor.
Tessa adds my name to the media list as Nora Bennett — Independent Photographer. No special spousal access. No secrecy.
Rhett sees me during warmups and taps two fingers to his heart.
The old signal.
This time, cameras see it.
I answer with the same gesture.
The arena reacts. A few cheers rise. Phones lift.
I do not disappear.
The game is physical and close. Rhett scores once, assists twice, and takes a penalty he actually deserves. The Breakers win.
At the press conference, a reporter asks whether having me back in the arena improves his performance.
Rhett says, "Nora is not performance equipment. She is here because she has a job."
Another asks whether we plan to remarry.
He looks toward Tessa. She does not rescue him.
"That decision belongs to two people and has not been made," he says. "Next hockey question."
After media, we meet in the public concourse rather than a hidden loading bay. Fans recognize us. Some ask for photographs. We accept two, decline five, and leave hand in hand.
At my apartment, Rhett cooks pasta while I edit.
He burns the sauce.
"You were better when you ordered food," I say.
"Growth includes failure."
"Not culinary homicide."
We eat it anyway.
Later, I wake with his arm around me and no panic about morning.
He has not moved into my apartment.
I have not returned to the penthouse.
We are not married.
We are also no longer waiting for crisis to tell us what matters.