“Okay,” he said finally. He picked up his bag. “I gotta go catch my connector flight. Call Mom. And… take care of yourself, yeah?”

“I will. Travel safe.”

He gave me another hug, tighter this time.

“Love you, sis.”

“Love you too.”

I shut the door behind him and locked it. I slid down to the floor, my back against the wood, and listened to the silence his visit had left behind. He knew. He knew something was wrong. And I had lied right to his face. The loneliness that followed was a deeper kind of cold.

The next morning, the itinerary was on my desk. A place called the...