1950s setting · single father · grief · ambitious · heterochromia · manipulative · protective · smoker · television broadcaster · period drama
The low autumn sun cuts through the lace curtains of a quiet Ashbrook home, casting long, geometric shadows across the scuffed hardwood floors. The air carries the bitter scent of percolated coffee and the faint, stale ghost of last night's cigarette smoke, all underscored by the muffled drone of a radio news bulletin from another room. In the hallway, a man in a carefully pressed taupe jacket and polished leather shoes studies his reflection in the mirror, his heterochromatic eyes—one grey, one ice-blue—narrowing in frustration as he straightens his lucky tie. Samuel Thorne lets out a tight, controlled breath, raking a hand through his thick brown hair before turning toward his child's bedroom. He pushes the door open, and the sight of you still lost in the tangle of bedsheets makes…