FIFTY-ONE

The following weeks were busy for everyone. While Char and Harry got busy with their wedding preps, I was busying myself with work. The project was coming together faster than I expected, and the ideas flowed easily. It was the kind of creative burst I hadn't experienced in a long time, and I welcomed it, hoping it would distract me from the growing tension around us.

Despite the busyness, I couldn't shake my concern for Char. Whenever we spoke, I urged her to visit her parents, to reconnect with her family before the wedding. Her hesitation puzzled me. I knew bits and pieces about her background—that she came from money, that her life was just like that of Cinderella before she left home. Unloving stepmother and siblings but she rarely talked about it. The more I pushed, the more she resisted, until one evening when she finally opened up.