The documents felt cold compared with the marriage they’d once represented.

Years of dinners, birthdays, and promises had become columns of numbers and dates.

Yet the same clarity that made them impersonal also made them useful.

Garrett could not change a ledger entry by raising his voice.

During a mediated session held remotely, Garrett’s image appeared in a small square on Iris’s screen.

He looked tired.

The flawless hairstyle had softened.

A shadow marked the skin beneath his eyes.