Chapter 5 Breaking old habits

Nathan stood in front of the mirror, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt. It wasn't a suit-just a simple button-down with rolled-up sleeves-but it still felt foreign. He wasn't preparing for a board meeting. There were no spreadsheets to review, no high-stakes deals to negotiate.

He was heading back to Second Chances Woodworks.

It had been a week since he started helping Alex, and while sanding wood and assembling furniture wasn't exactly his dream job, it had done something unexpected-it had quieted the noise in his mind.

Each morning, he showed up. Each evening, he left with aching muscles and sawdust in his hair. And somewhere between cutting, sanding, and varnishing, he had started to feel... steady.

Not fixed. Not whole. But steady.

Still, the itch remained. The itch to check his phone, to scroll through financial news, to see what the market was doing. To feel important again.

He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and stared at the screen. He had avoided LinkedIn and old business contacts since the scandal. Most of them had turned their backs on him, and he had no intention of crawling back.

But today, curiosity won.

He opened the app.

The first thing he saw was a headline about his former firm.

"Sterling & Co. Expands to International Markets Under New Leadership."

Nathan felt a tightening in his chest. The new leadership. James Foster.

The same man who had set him up.

James had been his right-hand man. His closest confidant. And when the scandal had unfolded, James had been the first to cut ties and let Nathan take the fall.

Nathan clenched his jaw and scrolled further. His old colleagues were thriving. The company had moved on without him, as if he had never existed.

He exhaled sharply and threw the phone onto the bed.

Alex's words echoed in his head.

"You've got to make peace with it and decide that you're not defined by your failures."

Nathan wasn't sure if he believed that yet.

But he knew one thing-he couldn't afford to drown in the past.

Not again.

---

Back at the Workshop

"You look like hell," Alex said as Nathan walked in.

Nathan smirked. "Good morning to you too."

Alex wiped his hands on a rag and leaned against the workbench. "What happened?"

Nathan hesitated. Then, against his instincts, he answered honestly.

"Checked my phone. Saw some news about my old firm."

Alex nodded, as if he had expected this. "And?"

Nathan sighed. "And they're doing fine without me. Better, even. It's like I was never there."

Alex studied him. "Does that bother you?"

Nathan scoffed. "What do you think?"

Alex chuckled. "I think you need to ask yourself why it bothers you. Is it because they moved on? Or because you haven't?"

Nathan didn't answer. He just picked up the sandpaper and started working on the chair leg in front of him.

For a while, they worked in silence. The rhythmic motion of sanding grounded him. The tension in his chest slowly eased.

Then Alex spoke. "You know, I used to be in finance too."

Nathan paused, looking up. "Really?"

Alex nodded. "I ran a company. Built it from the ground up. Thought I was invincible."

Nathan leaned against the workbench. "What happened?"

Alex smirked. "Same thing that happens to most of us who think we're untouchable. I made a mistake. A big one. Lost everything overnight."

Nathan frowned. "And then you... what? Opened a furniture shop?"

Alex shrugged. "Not right away. First, I spent a long time feeling sorry for myself. Angry at the people who betrayed me. Wasting time wishing I could turn back the clock. Sound familiar?"

Nathan exhaled. "Yeah. Too familiar."

Alex tapped the wooden table. "But then I realized something. I had a choice. I could keep clinging to a past that didn't want me anymore, or I could build something new."

Nathan looked around the workshop. "So you built this?"

Alex smiled. "Yep. And it saved me."

Nathan processed that for a moment. He wasn't sure if woodworking would save him, but maybe learning to let go would.

"You think I can get there?" Nathan asked.

Alex nodded. "You're already on your way."

For the first time in a long while, Nathan felt like that might actually be true.

---

Later That Night

Nathan sat at his kitchen table, staring at his phone. He had deleted LinkedIn.

Not because he was running away.

But because he was finally ready to stop looking back.

Instead, he pulled up his messages and typed something new.

Nathan: Hey Emma. Want to grab dinner this weekend? My treat.

A minute later, she responded.

Emma: Sure. But I get to pick the place.

Nathan smiled.

One step at a time.

---

End of Chapter Five