But it grounded me more than anything else in the world. I leaned into it like it was the only thing tethering me to this earth. “Okay,” I whispered. “Okay.”
He let his hand linger a second longer. Then let it fall.
“If it ever gets too heavy,” he said roughly, “come to me. Don’t disappear. Please.”
The wordpleasebroke something open in me. I nodded, my throat burning, my hands shaking. For the first time in days, I let myself believe maybe I wouldn’t. Not yet. But I was under no illusion that this was only the beginning of something—not just the falling, but the wanting not to. I was like a candle in the eye of a storm. Still burning. Still small. Still one breath away from going dark.
CHAPTER 6
ANTHONY
“Anthony?”
David’s voice rang out through the still, hollow house the second I stepped through the unlocked door. Even now, the air felt heavy—like grief was hanging from the ceiling like mold, creeping into the walls, rotting everything from the inside.
“I’m here,” I called back, my voice rougher than I meant it to be. “Coffee?”
The kitchen smelled stale. Bitter. Like time had stopped the day Natalie died and no one had bothered to press play again. The coffee machine blinked red. Empty, again. I swear if I wasn’t coming here everyday nothing in this house would get done.
“Shit,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else. I moved on autopilot, filling the water tank, measuring the beans. The small, mundane rituals were the only things that kept me from losing my goddamn mind in this place.
“I need to talk to you.”
I jerked around so fast my elbow hit the counter. “Christ, David,” I hissed. “You scared the shit out of me.”
He didn’t even flinch. Just stood there in the doorway like a ghost. Pale. Hollow-eyed. His mouth was set in a line so tight I wasn’t sure he could speak at all.
“You okay?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
His eyes flicked to the floor, then to the ceiling. Anywhere but at me. “I need you to keep an eye on Elliot.”
My hands froze where they were, halfway through reaching for two mugs. “What do you mean?”
He looked…wrong. Like someone had taken the David I knew and poured cement into his veins. “I… I know he’s an adult. But he’s not okay. And I—” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing like it hurt to speak. “I’m going away for a while.”
My spine snapped straight. “The fuck do you meanaway?”
He winced at the sharpness in my voice but didn’t back down. “Eight weeks. Maybe longer.”
Eight—what? “David.” My tone dropped, slow and dangerous. “You’re leaving? Now?”
He finally looked at me, and what I saw pissed me off more than anything—resignation.He’d already decided. Already packed the bags in his head and boarded the fucking plane. “This project… it’s been in the works for a year. I can’t walk away from it.”
My fists clenched around the edge of the counter. “But you can walk away fromhim?”
His expression cracked, just for a second. “I can’tbreathein this house, Anthony. I can’t look at the walls without seeing her. I can’t hear Elliot’s voice without—” His voice broke, and he looked away like a coward. “I seeherin everything. In him.”
“Good,” I snapped. “Youshould. That’s your fucking son. He needs you. He’s drowning and you’re handing him the anchor.”
His face twisted. “I’m not strong enough.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. You just don’t want toseehim. Because he reminds you of what you lost.” His silence wasan admission. “You’re not the only one who lost her,” I growled. “He did too. And now you’re leaving him completely alone?”
“I’m asking you to be there for him,” David said, voice shaking. “That’s why I called you. You’re the only one he listens to. The only one he’s let in.”
I took a step forward, rage boiling under my skin. “Because Ishow up. I don’t run. I didn’t check out the second the world stopped spinning.”
His jaw twitched, but he didn’t defend himself. “I’ll be gone tomorrow morning,” he continued after a beat. “Just… check in on him.Please.I’m not asking for forgiveness. Justhelp. It’s the least you can do for me.”
