~Fallon~
The house had settled into an eerie kind of quiet after my parents left.
A heavy, expectant quiet. The kind that fills the air after an argument, or a storm, or a memory you didn’t ask to relive.
I sat still on the couch long after the front door closed behind them. My hand still faintly tingled from where my mom had held it. The air still held a trace of her perfume—something sharp, floral, and carefully curated. Even the cushion beside me felt heavier, like it remembered the weight of old conversations.
I didn’t know what I felt.
Relieved? Wrecked? Resentful?
Loved?
None of it made sense, so I didn’t try to name it.
I just sat there.
And that’s where Reid found me.
He walked in from the terrace, sleeves rolled to his elbows, eyes shaded with something unreadable. His hair looked windswept—hands-in-it-all-day messy. His jaw was tight.
He stopped in the doorway when he saw me.
Paused.
Like he was bracing.
“They just left?” he asked softly.
I nodded. I didn’t trust my voice no
