Saturday morning started later than usual.
Eli had crawled into Aria's bed somewhere around 3 a.m., mumbling about a shadow that looked like a dragon. She let him stay, his tiny frame curled beside her, breathing slow and steady, one hand still holding Thunder by the tail.
When she woke up, sunlight already filled the room. She turned to find Eli still asleep, lips parted, his curls a chaotic crown. She brushed a hand over his forehead, careful not to wake him.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
Elias: Morning. Coffee later? Just us. If you want.
She stared at the message for a while.
Just us.
She didn't answer right away.
By noon, she dropped Eli off at Nora's for a playdate. Her sister had asked no questions, just raised a knowing eyebrow when Aria handed over his overnight bag.
"You look… like you're thinking too hard."
"I am," Aria replied.
"Stop that. Go. Have your coffee. Or whatever it is people are calling these meetings now."
Aria rolled her eyes and left without another word.
Elias was already at the café, tucked into a corner seat by the window, two mugs in front of him. He glanced up as she walked in, something in his shoulders relaxing a bit.
"Hey."
"Hey."
She sat across from him. Reached for her mug. "You ordered for me?"
"Same as last time."
She sipped. It was perfect.
They didn't talk for the first few minutes. Just sipped their coffee in a silence that wasn't quite uncomfortable, but not easy either.
Finally, Elias leaned forward, resting his arms on the table.
"Last night felt like a shift."
"Yeah," she said softly. "It did."
"I don't want to over-analyze it, but… being around you like that—us, in the same space, laughing with the same people—it made things feel like they could be simple again."
Aria didn't answer right away. She looked down at her coffee, then out the window.
"Things haven't been simple for a long time."
"I know."
"I mean, even when they seemed simple, they weren't. I just… wasn't paying attention."
Elias nodded slowly. "I get that."
She finally looked at him. "Do you?"
"Yeah," he said. "I wasn't paying attention either. And then you were gone."
Aria pressed her lips together. She hated how easy it still was—how quickly her chest reacted, how much she felt when he said things like that. Like it was still there. Still real.
She took a slow breath. "You think this… us… can be fixed?"
"I don't think it's about fixing," he replied. "We broke something. Yeah. But I think if we start over… we could build something new. Better."
Aria shook her head, more at herself than him. "It's not that easy."
"I know," he said again. "But I'm still here."
They fell quiet again.
After a moment, Aria said, "I never told you everything. About when I left."
Elias didn't move.
She went on. "I didn't just leave because things were bad. I left because I didn't like who I was becoming."
His brow creased. "What do you mean?"
"I was bitter. Tired. Angry all the time. I didn't even recognize myself anymore. And it wasn't just you. It was… everything. The way I stopped choosing myself. The way I let life just happen to me."
He sat back, his expression softening.
"I didn't know you felt that way," he said.
"I didn't know how to say it."
He nodded like he understood that too.
They sat in that truth for a long moment.
Elias broke the silence. "I wasn't there for you. Not really. I was… around, but not with you. I see that now. I hate that it took you leaving for me to see it."
Aria blinked quickly, trying to push down the sudden sting in her eyes. "Sometimes I wish I hadn't."
He looked at her sharply. "Left?"
"No. Waited so long."
That silenced him.
She leaned forward. "I keep thinking—if I had left earlier, would I have had more time to figure myself out? Would Eli have gotten a better version of me sooner?"
"You're a great mom."
"I wasn't. Not then. I was surviving."
Elias's voice dropped. "So was I."
They both looked away at the same time.
The waitress came by to check on them, and they both nodded absently. She refilled the mugs. Elias thanked her. Aria watched the steam rise.
When she finally spoke again, her voice was lower. "Do you ever think about what it would've been like if we'd done everything differently?"
"All the time."
She met his eyes. "Would we have made it?"
"I think we would've still had Eli," Elias said. "But maybe… less damage. Maybe more joy."
Aria let out a small breath that might've been a laugh, or a sigh. "Maybe."
"I'm not asking for a full reset," he said carefully. "Just a chance. Not for what we had, but something new. Something with more honesty. Less pretending."
"And what if we mess it up again?"
"Then we try again. Or we part on better terms than before. But I'm not ready to stop trying."
Aria stared at him for a long beat. Her heart beat loudly in her ears.
She didn't say yes. She didn't say no.
But she didn't walk away either.
They left the café an hour later, side by side. No labels. No decisions. Just a shared silence and something unspoken but mutual—like a thread being rewoven, one loop at a time.
When they reached her car, Aria paused with her hand on the door.
"Do you want to come over tomorrow morning?" she asked, eyes on the street.
Elias blinked. "Yeah. Sure. For what?"
"I was thinking we could make pancakes with Eli. The three of us."
He nodded slowly. "Sounds like a plan."
Aria turned to him. "Just… no expectations, okay?"
He raised both hands. "None. Pancakes only."
She laughed—small and surprised.
He smiled. "See you tomorrow."
When she got home, Eli was already asleep at Nora's, so the house was quiet again. Aria wandered to the kitchen, poured a glass of water, and leaned against the counter.
She felt lighter and heavier at the same time.
Progress was weird like that.
And somewhere deep inside, the part of her that used to believe in things stirred—tentative, but not silent.