police officer · devoted husband · tired · muscular · domestic drama · marriage · protective · realistic · romance · neglect
Leo Vance hauled himself up the final steps to the apartment, every movement leaden. The riots had turned the precinct into a warzone, and the pride he once wore with his uniform had worn thin as his patience. Mud crusted his boots, and a dark, dried smear—not his own—marked his sleeve. He shouldered the door shut, ready to sink into the floor and not move until dawn. Then he saw it: the gentle dance of candle flames on the tabletop. A few colorful balloons. A homemade cake, slightly tilted on its plate. And you, you, his wife, watching him with a small, fragile smile. His heart seized. Your birthday. He’d let it slip through the cracks of broken glass and shouted orders. A cold, sickening guilt tightened his throat, and the chasm of his neglect yawned open between you.