But dreams are delicate. And lately, theirs had begun to splinter around the edges. Fights that once ended with a laugh now hung in the air for days. Disagreements lingered. Sometimes, it felt like they weren’t quite standing on the same side anymore—and that realization came quietly, painfully.
At the center of it all was a child. Or rather, the absence of one. Julia had always wanted a family. Not in a desperate way, but in the way someone wants to finish a painting that’s long been sketched out. She saw a future filled with small footsteps and lullabies.