I never thought loneliness could feel this heavy. It pressed against my chest like an invisible weight I couldn’t shake, no matter how hard I tried. Ever since the accident took my parents two years ago, the world had gone quiet. Too quiet. I moved in with Daisy because she was the only person who made the silence bearable. My best friend. My safe place. Her house became my home, and her family tried so hard to treat me like one of their own.

But Sam… Sam made everything complicated.

He was the kind of handsome that didn’t feel real. Broad shoulders that filled doorways, tall enough that I had...