Chapter 16
Adrian
One year later, the city was almost unrecognizable, except for the fog and the feeling that everything might change overnight.
The atelier had doubled in size, a storefront with real windows and Vivienne’s name in gold script above the door.
She was busy enough to hire three assistants, two interns, and Marissa as a permanent manager.
The studio bustled with the sound of scissors, music, and laughter.
I went by sometimes, just to watch her work.
She was in her element, making decisions faster than most CEOs.
She still drank too much coffee and left her phone in odd places, but she didn’t let the stress eat her alive.
She came home at the end of the day tired but happy, and sometimes we’d cook dinner together, laughing at how neither of us ever learned to make a decent salad.
I learned to work less, too. The company was fine without my micromanagement; in fact, it did better when I took long weekends and let other people steer for a change.
I played tennis with Mark, joined a book club, and saw my parents every few months.
I stopped trying to be everywhere, all the time.
We didn’t live together, not exactly. She kept her apartment; I stayed at the house. Most nights, we’d pick a place and meet in the middle, sometimes falling asleep together, sometimes not. We talked about moving in again, but neither of us was in a hurry.
We even went to therapy, once a month, just to keep things honest. We laughed about it after, over cheap wine and Margherita pizza. She said the secret to happiness was wanting less, but I thought it was just wanting the right things.
Tonight was the annual “who’s who” dinner for the city’s power couples, this time at a private room on the top floor of a hotel overlooking the bay.
The view was absurd, the kind that made you think anything was possible.
The table was crowded with venture capitalists, surgeons, a few politicians, and their spouses.
The food was small and expensive, the wine list longer than most novels.
Vivi wore a suit she made herself—tailored, sharp, with a wild lining of floral silk. Everyone noticed. She sat next to me, but not too close, and spent half the dinner talking shop with a visiting designer from Milan.
At the far end of the table, Mark’s wife kept rolling her eyes at him. He spent most of the night texting on his phone, barely looking up except to grab another piece of bread. I caught her staring at Vivi and me, envy and frustration flickering across her face.
When dessert came, Mark finally set the phone down and raised his glass. “To old friends and new beginnings,” he said, eyes on me.
“To letting go of the past,” I replied, and meant it.
After the meal, I pulled Mark aside, just to check in.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
He grinned, sheepish. “Could be worse. Could be divorced, right?”
I glanced over at Vivi, who was laughing with the Milan designer. “Sometimes divorce is the only way to get back together.”
Mark shrugged. “She’s just got a friend. That’s all. I can’t tell her to give that up.”
I put a hand on his shoulder. “I know. But maybe put the phone away for one dinner.”
He looked at me, not getting it. “She understands. She says she does.”
I watched his wife from across the room, arms crossed, talking to no one.
“That’s what I used to say,” I told him.
He rolled his eyes, but I knew he heard me.
Later, Vivi and I left the party, taking the long route around the bay. We parked by the pier, walked out under the streetlights. The wind off the water was cold, but she didn’t complain. We stood at the edge and watched the ships pass, their lights blinking like code across the darkness.
“You know,” I said, “I think we made it.”
She looked at me, eyebrows raised. “You mean survived?”
“Survived, improved. Take your pick.”
She smiled, then pulled me closer. “Do you miss it? The way things were?”
I thought about the house, empty and clean; the old life, filled with noise and expectation.
“No,” I said. “I like this better.”
We stood in silence, letting the world go by.
In the beginning, she stood beside me while everyone saw only Adrian Laurent. Now, I stood beside Vivienne Laurent—designer, businesswoman, wife, and entirely herself.
And it was enough.