“I know I’ve been distant these past few weeks,” he said, looking straight into my eyes.

“The market has been brutal, and the firm has taken up every waking second.”

“You have seemed very preoccupied, Daniel,” I said, my voice carefully even.

“I made mistakes,” he said, rubbing his thumb gently across the back of my wrist.

“I let the pressure get to me, and I pulled away when I should have leaned on you.”

A couple walked past us on the gravel path, admiring a display of purple blooms, their low voices echoing softly under the high glass dome.

“I just want things to go back to how they were when we first met,” he said.