A question sits there. Heavy.
Why are you being nice?
Why is this happening?
Why you?
I don’t let her ask it yet. “Your phone’s on the kitchen counter,” I say. “I didn’t unlock it. Levi’s been texting.”
That gets her moving. She pushes herself upright too fast, sways slightly, and my body reacts before my brain can stop it. I’m on my feet, a hand half-raised.
She catches herself with the couch cushion and glares at me like I’m the one who did it.
“I’m fine,” she says.
I let my hand drop, but I don’t sit. “Humor me,” I say quietly.
Her eyes narrow, but the fight isn’t as sharp as last night. “You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep trying to do everything alone.”
Mark makes a sympathetic face. “He’s been practicing his gentle voice.”
“Shut up,” I tell him without looking.
Audra’s gaze flicks between us again. Something in her shoulders loosens by a fraction. She takes a slow breath.
“Okay,” she says. “Crackers sound… safe.”
Alex beams like he’s just been given a medal. “Yes. Safe food.”
“I hate you,” Mark mutters.
Alex heads for the kitchen with exaggerated stealth, as if the crackers are a high-risk mission. Mark follows, mostly to beannoying, and within seconds I hear cabinets opening and Mark complaining about my lack of real snacks.
Audra shifts her weight, adjusting the blanket around her shoulders.
“You can take it off,” I say. “You don’t have to stay wrapped up.”
We stare at each other for a beat, our old rhythm clicking into place—her bristling, me refusing to flinch.
Then her gaze dips to my shoes.
And her expression collapses into mortified horror.
“Oh my God,” she whispers. “Your shoes.”
I glance down at the clean leather. I changed them. I scrubbed the others in the sink like a psychopath. I threw the socks away. I didn’t tell her any of that.
“They’re fine,” I say.
“I threw up on you,” she says, voice strangled.
“You threw up on my shoes,” I correct calmly. “That’s different.”
Her face goes red. “It’s not different.”
“It is,” I say, because it is. “It means you didn’t choke. It means your body fought it. It means you’re here.”
