The night after the wedding, Jason barely slept.

He kept hearing the violin’s last notes in his dreams, the sound bending and breaking into the steady beep, beep, beep of a machine keeping someone alive. Each time he woke, he saw Leah’s face in the shadows, watching him, her hand resting over his heart like she could keep it from racing.

By morning, the celebration felt like a dream slipping away. Reality pressed back in.

The guests were leaving one by one. Maya hugged Leah tightly at the car, whispering something only she could hear that made Leah wipe her eyes. Ben gave Jason a firm handshake that had none...