Get it together, Juniper, she mentally chastised herself, forcing her attention back to the deposition. This is work. He’s a colleague. You have a job to do.

But her eyes kept drifting. Noticing things. The way he moved through the hallway. How he’d nodded at her earlier… acknowledgment without presumption, like he understood they were starting over from scratch. Or maybe she was reading into things. Again.

Stop it, she told herself firmly. Whatever happened before, whatever almost happened, it doesn’t matter right now. These kids matter. The case matters. Focus on that.

Except focusing had become exponentially harder since Daniel walked back into… every interaction left her slightly off-balance, hyper-aware of her own reactions in a way that felt uncomfortably like vulnerability. She didn’t know the rules of engagement anymore… colleague? Ally? Something else she wasn’t ready to name?

One thing at a time, she reminded herself. Get through this deposition. Do the work. Deal with… everything else later.