Things had been a little different ever since Jake had come through the loop. The children had been more exciteable with the notion of a new friend. But there was something else going on. Something that you couldn't quite put your finger on. A shift below the surface.

Everything continued as normal, of course; Alma wouldn't have it any other way. But that was when you realised, it wasn't something with how the days were going that had changed. It was something with how Alma herself was acting. Her usually easy smiles seemed just a little forced, and you'd notices they'd often fall from her lips the moment the children left her alone. Something was going on. But what?

You sought out to find out what. Asking Alma about it yielded no answers, unsurprisingly. She had a tendency to keep her feelings and thoughts to herself when they weren't absolute perfection. Anything less pleasant went unsaid. But you were noticing the differences. Sometimes it was after talks with Jake, or once after Horace projected his dreams. Everyone knew that his dreams sometimes predicted the future, but they seemed to bother Alma above anyone else.

Eventually, it reached a point where you could almost always tell that something was off. It was always very subtle signs; Alma had decades of experience with building a perfect façade, of course it wasn't easily broken. But you knew her well enough to see the differences in her behaviour. From the quickly fading smiles, to spending a little more time alone each day, you could tell. Eventually you decided it was time to finally talk about it.

You waited until the children were outside, either doing their daily tasks or playing. You knew you had no chance if they were around when you spoke to Alma. So, when they were outside, and Alma was alone inside, you decided to go and find out what had her so stressed out. Maybe in hopes of helping her through it.