~Jennie’s~

"You always do the most for people who don’t even deserve your softness."

That’s what Ava texted me this morning.

And now I’m here, standing in front of a crowded soup line, wiping sweat off my brow with a paper towel that smells like hand sanitizer. The community center buzzes with movement. Kids are laughing in one room, volunteers are moving trays in another, and overworked staff are bouncing from hallway to hallway.

I should feel fulfilled.

I should.

But all I feel is this weird, heavy kind of silence entrenched in my chest.

It’s probably because I didn’t sleep. Or maybe because I haven’t seen Reo since the...