Page 101 of The Restoration Program

Can they open a temporary room for me?She bit her tongue to stop the words, trying to lighten the mood instead. “You’d wanna be careful about sleeping in the Facility, anyway,” she said, her voice thin as gauze. “They might reprogram you.”

“You’re looking through the forums again, aren’t you?” He clicked his tongue at her guilty shrug. “Guess I can’t blame you. I can’t stop, either.”

“Hey, I don’treallybelieve in any of it. So I haven’t hit rock bottom yet.”

“Race you there.” Dropping his head against the pillow, he rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. “You didn’t answer my question. You made married life sound all sunshine and rainbows the other day at the meeting, but… how has itreallybeen since you took the leap—I mean, sincehetook the leap with you superglued to his hand?”

Brushing off the jab, she crossed her arms smugly. “I feel like an inspiration. Ellis mentioned he and Todd want to renew their vows.” She hesitated, dropping her shield slightly when she noticed Carlos looked bleak as ever. “Not much has changed,” she admitted. “Same routine. Ryan works from home some days and at the office on others.”

“I figured. Where’s big blue-eyes now?”

“He’s on a work call in the other room. Why, you wanna say hi?” She turned and cupped her hands over her mouth, drawing a deep breath as if she were about to shout for Ryan.

“¡Cállate!Come on, I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! The pantry was looking a little sad, so he’s out grabbing groceries.” Nicole frowned. “What do you mean about getting me in trouble?”

His wry smile faded. “Like I said… You made it sound great, but you guys just seemed a little tense yesterday. Hell, he barely let me talk to you. Scooped you and your diamond up before I could even say anything.”

Nicole’s brow knit as she thought back. Ryan and Carlos had spoken less and less at recent meetings. She had hoped she was over analyzing the lack of dumb jokes, but now… “I should have said something,” she said. “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Maybe he didn’t want a catch like me talking to his new wife?”

She attempted to fill the cold pit in her stomach with a startled laugh. Almost immediately, Carlos became reproachful.

“I’m sorry. It’s not a big deal,” he muttered, rubbing his messy hair. “Just talking out my ass, like usual. I woke up like five minutes ago, give me a break.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” she said. “Ryan’s still on his protective streak after… you know.”

Carlos nodded. “Any end in sight for your office tag-alongs with him?”

As though all the talk of Ryan had summoned him, his incoming call photo appeared on the screen. Nicole hesitated, then declined. He was around the corner—there couldn’t be an issue more pressing than what kind of cereal she wanted.

Her fists tightened on her lap. “Who says I’m looking for the end of office days?”

“C’mon, Zhou. You can bullshit all you want about how accommodating and understanding everyone in that building is, but you look like a deer in headlights whenever you talk about being there. Tell me how it’s really going.”

She could have plastered on a fake smile and said everything was fine, but as she glanced at Rebecca’s sleeping form behind Carlos, her lips loosened. “Every day feels like ‘bring your pet to work’ day,” she said with a pained version of the smile she wished she could muster. “But we haven’t had an argument since I started going back with him, and… and it’s getting better.”

Carlos wad quiet for a few seconds. “You feel like a pet?”

Another call from Ryan. Decline. She couldn’t exit her conversation with Carlos like this, and Ryan would be able to tell instantly that she was worked up.

“No!” she insisted. “I just…”

“You literally said it.”

“Really,” she said. “I’m just being dramatic. Ry’s been really considerate about making a space for me. I stay out of sight if I don’t want anyone to bother me. I get a lot of reading done.”

“What, he has like an enclosure for you?”

“No, nothing like that. He’s a lot less stressed, not having to worry about me. I think he’s starting to cool down about Darlene, too. It’s salvageable. One of these days, I’ll see if we can have her over for coffee, so we can smooth things over. He’s been having so many late meetings this month, I wouldn’t complain about some girls’ nights in again.”

Silence stretched out for a few uncomfortable seconds. Seconds in which she couldn’t help but think that Carlos spent more time worrying over her than himself.

“Well, good for Ryan. Sounds like he’s getting everything he wants,” Carlos said.

She scowled slightly. “We’re solid.”