Alone with You in the Ether

Aldo keeps his chaotic mind in check with obsessive calculations and rigid routines. He is convinced that without them, the whole framework of his life would fall apart.

Regan finds nearly everyone, herself included, predictable and tedious. She deals with that by living on impulse and treating each rash decision as the start of its own alternate timeline.

The two meet by chance at the Art Institute and agree to a strange arrangement: six conversations, no more and no fewer. It begins as a controlled experiment in closeness, with rules set by two people who distrust anything they cannot measure.

The experiment slips out of their control. Their bond is made of philosophy and art, and of two people slowly learning to be unwell together instead of alone.

This is a literary romance with mental illness at its center. Expect a reflective, character-driven read in which conversation carries the story, and the mood leans toward intimacy and the comfort of being fully seen.