Silence filled the house. It crept into every corner, lingered at every meal, and wrapped itself around the bed at night until Leah felt smothered by it.

There was a time when she and Jason couldn’t stop talking, when they’d argue just to feel the fire and then collapse into each other’s arms laughing, unable to stay angry. Now their words, when they came at all, were sharp, cautious things. Most nights, they didn’t come at all.

Jason buried himself in his work…his “new vision,” his data, his equations. And Leah, left standing on the other side of his locked door, carried the weight of memories neither of them dared...