ARIA'S POV
She'd been avoiding it.
Not obviously. Not in a way she'd admitted out loud to anyone, including Dr Morrison, which probably meant it was something she should have been talking about in those sessions. But every morning when she walked the grounds with her coffee and the path curved toward the east side of the estate, she found reasons to turn before she got there.
The garden needed more time. She was tired. The light was better on the west side in the mornings.
All of it true enough. None of it the real reason.
Damien hadn't pushed. He'd noticed....she knew he'd noticed because he noticed everything....but he hadn't said anything. Until last night when he'd told her about the foundation, about Morrison's harvesting schedule, about everything he'd quietly built around that plant while she'd been recovering. And then at the end of it he'd said, simply: I want to show you something tomorrow.
She'd known what he meant.
She'd said okay.
