Rowan looked up from the book he hadn’t been reading for a while now. “Do you need anything?” he asked, already moving, already prepared to grab water or medicine or an extra blanket.

She shook her head, her eyes meeting his in that long stretch of quiet. There were no tears, no smiles just a look. Something between them passed like wind through tall grass, silent and undeniable.

Rowan climbed into bed, careful like she was made of glass and he was afraid of breaking something already fractured. He slipped in behind her, wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed his chest to her back. His warmth soaked through...