Silent Rituals

Nolan’s POV

The mall was loud. Too loud for a Wednesday afternoon, and even worse for a day like this.

I shouldn’t have followed her. I had three meetings I still hadn’t reviewed, one document overdue for client sign-off, and a damn proposal sitting in my drafts since Monday. But when Mom had called that morning and asked if I could take her to the store, I already knew I would.

It wasn’t really a