Page 141 of Beautiful Ruins
Tone studied him for another moment.
“You walked again,” she commented.
“Yes.”
“You’re welcome.”
Archie blinked once.Then emitted a laugh I’m not sure even he was expecting.
“I appreciate the medical support.”
“You’re lucky I wasn’t your nurse back then,” Tone said.
“Why?”
“I would’ve made you do the exercises.”
Archie leaned back slightly in his chair.
“I see.”
“You wouldn’t have enjoyed it.”
“That depends.”
Tone raised an eyebrow.
“On what?”
“Whether you were the one ordering them.”
Izzy choked on her coffee.
I stared at the ceiling.
Breakfast carried on like that for a few minutes—conversation sliding between sarcasm and polite hostility in a way that somehow felt almost… normal.
Eventually I pushed my chair back.
“Office.”
Archie stood immediately.
Before I followed him, I leaned down and kissed Izzy softly.
Her fingers brushed my wrist.
“Try not to start another war before lunch,” she murmured.
“No promises.”
Tone watched us with open amusement.
Archie glanced between the two of them once more before turning toward the hallway.
I already knew this conversation in my office wasn’t going to be the complicated part of my day.
The complicated part had just introduced itself at my breakfast table.
