Xavier stared at the suit jacket in his hands, puzzled for a moment before looking up. "How did my suit end up with your boss?"


    "I''m not entirely sure," Gavin replied. "I think Miss Sutton asked our boss to return


    it to you."


    Xavier reached out to take the suit. "Please thankn for me. I appreciate it."


    "Of course," Gavin said, then turned and left.


    Xavier sank back onto the sofa, setting the suit aside as he tried to refocus on the meeting. Butpared to earlier, his mind kept wandering.


    Eleanor askedn to return the suit? He couldn''t make sense of it no matter how he tried.


    He picked up his phone and sent Eleanor a quick message.


    "Got my suit back from you."


    "Was it dry-cleaned?" Eleanor replied almost immediately.


    "It was. Ian''s assistant, Gavin, dropped it off." As soon as Xavier sent the


    message, one of the managers wrapped up his report.


    "Mr. Vaughn, do you think we need to make any changes to this proposal?"


    Xavier finally looked up, eyes narrowed. "Hold on. I have something important to take care of. Let''s reconvene in an hour."


    The managers exchanged confused nces but got up and left. What could possibly be more important than closing a half-billion-dor project?


    Xavier''s gaze stayed glued to his phone, waiting for Eleanor''s reply as if it might provide answers.


    Ten minutes ticked by.


    On Eleanor''s end, she''d just finished texting when Joel called her away. By the time she returned to her desk and saw Xavier''s message, she quickly typed out an exnation: "He just picked up the suit that night when he left. I forgot to mention it to you."


    Xavier read her reply and felt a strange, restless churn in his chest. Eleanor hadn''t gotten home until eight-thirty that night—hadn been at her ce thatte?


    The jealousy nagged at him, irrational as it was. Still, it was impossible to ignore.


    The wayn had recognized his suit, and deliberately taken it-Xavier couldn''t shake the feeling there was more to it.


    Wasn still in love with Eleanor?


    Five years of that lopsided "no remarriage" use, and now all these little gestures... Everything pointed ton still caring about her.


    Just then, a notification popped up in Xavier''s phone-Vivian''s ss parent group.


    Dear parents, this Saturday we''re organizing our annual winter family outing at Greenwood Park. We wee moms and dads to join us for a day outdoors!


    He watched as mothers immediately started signing up. After a moment''s thought, Xavier added his name to the list as well.


    While Eleanor waited at a red light, her phone buzzed with new messages. She nced down to see the school''s announcement about the winter family outing.


    She hesitated, debating whether to sign up, when another message arrived this time from Xavier: "Did you see the notice? Want to go together?"


    Still uncertain, she replied, "Let me talk it over with Evelyn first." "Alright," Xavier responded.


    That evening, after picking up her daughter, Eleanor barely had her seatbelt buckled before Evelyn bubbled with excitement about the weekend ns. "Mom, we get to go on a pic this weekend! The teacher said we can even bring cupcakes!"


    Eleanor nced back at her, smiling. "Really? Well, let''s go home and sign up, then."


    "Yay! Okay!"