Nico had thought he would feel much better once he no longer had the threat of losing Vannevar hanging over his head.
To his own bafflement, he didn’t feel better. If anything, he felt worse.
For the first time in his life, he struggled to work. He tried his hardest. He showed up at his office every day, but his heart wasn’t in it. The work didn’t bring him joy anymore. He wasn’t energized by his daily to-do list. He was doing the bare minimum he could to get by.
He avoided his condo, the place that now seemed entirely too big for just one man, whenever possible. The problem was, he couldn’t face being at office all the time as he’d done for the last month, either.
So Nico performed punishing workouts in Vannevar’s gym. He walked the streets of Santa Clara for hours rather than go back to his empty apartment or drive around in a BMW that still seemed to hold the scent of Rebecca’s perfume.