She brushed his hands away and took over. The fabric was wedged tight into the track, a classic snag. It was a small, mundane moment, but as she leaned in, she noticed the slight frustration in his eyes soften into something else. In the quiet of their hallway, with the hum of the refrigerator in the background, the struggle with the zipper felt oddly intimate.

"It's just... caught," Liam muttered, his fingers fumbling with the slider of his heavy-duty parka. It was a "hard zip"—one of those industrial-strength ones that promised to keep out a blizzard but currently refused to move more than an inch.

She worked patiently, gently wiggling the slider back and forth until the trapped lining finally gave way. With a satisfying zzzzp , the jacket closed smoothly up to his chin.

Liam let out a breathy laugh, looking down at her. "My hero."

"Don't forget it," she teased, patting his chest before picking up her coffee. "Now let's go before the world realizes you can't even get dressed without me."