Savannah’s stomach dropped.
Her fingers curled around the edges of her phone, gripping it like it was the only thing keeping her from completely falling apart.
It was Chase—-After all this time. After months of silence.
This was what he had to say?
Not a plea. Not an I miss you. Not a come back.
Just—take care. Like she was a stranger.
A distant memory. A past he had already put behind him.
The air left her lungs in a sharp, painful exhale.
She felt Mallory watching her, waiting for a reaction. For anything.
But Savannah couldn’t move.
Because that?
That was final.
That was Chase walking away. That was him letting her go.
Savannah swallowed hard, forcing herself to breathe.
But the oxygen didn’t help. Nothing helped.
She needed to move. To do something—anything—before the weight of it crushed her.
Slowly, she turned and walked toward the kitchen, her steps heavy, her hands numb.
Mallory didn’t stop her. She didn’t say anything.
Savannah gripped the edge of the counter, staring out the window, chest rising and falling unevenly.
The sky was dark now, city lights flickering to life in the distance.
But it didn’t feel like home.
Not anymore.
Because home had never been Asheville.
It had been him.
She pressed a palm against the cool granite, grounding herself, fighting against the storm raging inside her.
And that’s when sheheard it—
His voice.
Her breath strangled in her throat.
At first, she thought she was imagining it. That grief had finally twisted into something cruel, warping the silence into the sound she missed the most. But then she turned.
And there—on the television screen—was him.
