Sienna

The silence after they left didn’t feel normal. It was the kind that sits heavy in your chest — the kind that doesn’t go away no matter how hard you try to act fine.

I didn’t say a word to Jaxon. Not when he asked if I was hungry, not when he offered to make something for dinner, not even when he followed me to the kitchen trying to make me smile.

“Come on, Sienna,” he said softly. “You’ve barely said two words since Kendra left. Did something happen?”

I just shook my head and kept rinsing a glass that was already clean. My throat felt tight.

He sighed...