When Penelope had called, Darren knew what it meant. She must have heard about Archibald's return, or maybe she just missed him.
Maybe she knew he was having a hard time and wanted to talk with someone..
Penelope had a way of knowing these things. It was so easy for her to read him that he never even bothered lying.
So when she asked him how he was, he told her the truth.
And she told him... that she would be waiting in the park.
After work, without speaking to anyone, Darren left the Complex, entered his Royce and drove to see her.
Now, the park was quiet again.
Not the still silence of absence, but the deep, resting quiet of something sacred— preserved.
Lavender bushes swayed softly along the path, lampposts hummed their warm golden light, and the evening breeze carried the faint scent of rosemary and pine.
It was that brief window before sundown where the world stopped pretending and just... exhaled.
And that's where Darren Steele was.
