Hadley offered no immediate response, simply studying his face with quiet intensity.

Fine?

Could he not see how pale and wan his complexion had become as those words left his lips?

“Don’t speak such foolishness.” Hadley’s silent sigh preceded her next words. “Phillips mentioned that you managed to avoid losing your temper today and stayed away from the medication. Is that accurate? Or…”

Worry crept into her voice as she pressed on. “Did you perhaps take it when he wasn’t looking? I’m not trying to catch you in a lie, but I need complete honesty so I can understand your actual condition.”

“No!” Eric’s spine snapped to rigid attention, his neck going stiff as he responded with the fervor of someone taking a sacred oath. “I did not take it!”

“Oh.” His obvious tension struck Hadley as oddly endearing, and despite everything, a smile tugged at her lips.

“That’s wonderful news. Please keep it up.”

“I will,” Eric practically glowed with joy at receiving Hadley’s praise.

His grin stretched so wide it seemed to illuminate the entire car interior like pure sunshine. “I promise I’ll keep it up.”

Something about his expression struck her as wonderfully silly… it reminded her so much of Joy.

A familiar pang squeezed her heart, and Hadley blinked several times while fighting to maintain her smile. Her hand moved to her stomach as she deliberately shifted topics. “I’m getting rather hungry.”

Eric’s eyebrows climbed toward his hairline. “Don’t they provide meals while making you work this late?”

“It’s not like that…” She shook her head with a rueful expression. “I overindulged at lunch, which left me with no appetite for dinner. So I skipped it.” Which explained her current hunger pangs.

New updates in gα?ησνs?c?m

“I’ll just grab some bread once we’re home,” Hadley mentioned casually.

Eric remained silent beside her.

His attention had shifted entirely to his phone, fingers moving across the screen as he appeared to tackle various work-related issues.

Hadley didn’t say anything. She simply turned her face to the window, watching the passing streets in silence.

Beside her, Eric fiddled with his phone, glancing at the screen before setting it down with a sigh.

Before long, the car slowed to a stop in front of Hadley’s house on Jewel Avenue.

“I’ll head in now,” Hadley said, reaching for her bag and pushing the door open.

“Hadley—wait a second.” Eric’s voice stopped her mid-motion.

She turned back, puzzled.

Eric checked his watch. “Joy should be asleep already, right?”

“Yes,” she replied, nodding. “I talked to Melba earlier. Joy never misses her bedtime.”

She was out like a light by eight-thirty. Always.

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