Audra Sullivan should not be in my head like this.
She was vulnerable. Drugged. Shaken. Anyone with a conscience would have helped her. That’s what I did. End of story.
Except it isn’t.
Because I keep thinking about the way she fit into my house without trying to. The way she didn’t poke or pry, didn’t ask invasive questions, didn’t treat the night like leverage or drama. The way she thanked me without making it transactional.
And the way she looked at me the next morning — not grateful, not dazzled.
Just… seeing me.
I don’t want this.
I’ve built my life carefully. Intentionally. No mess, no overlap, no blurred lines between work and everything else. Audra lives directly on that fault line.
My phone sits face-down on the desk.
I haven’t texted her.
That’s deliberate. Measured. Sensible.
What I don’t love is the other half of the equation.
She hasn’t texted me either.
I tell myself that’s good. Healthy. Proof that we both understand this wasn’t something that needed follow-up or reassurance or explanations. That we’re adults who can let a moment exist without trying to define it.
Except the thought doesn’t sit cleanly.
Because Audra Sullivan is not passive. She doesn’t wait around wondering what someone else is thinking. She acts — or she decides not to, and does that just as deliberately.
Which means this silence isn’t absence.
It’s choice.
The realization needles at me more than I expect.
A knock hits my door — sharp, familiar, unwelcome in the way only friends can be.
“Wow,” Mark says as he walks in without waiting for permission. “You’re here on a Sunday. Did hell freeze over or are you avoiding something?”
Alex follows him in, coffee in hand, already shrugging out of his jacket. “I told you he couldn’t sit in that house.”
I glare at both of them. “I’m working.”
Mark looks around pointedly. “On what? Your brooding?”
Alex snorts and drops into the chair across from my desk. “So. How’s Audra?”
The question prickles.
“She’s fine,” I say automatically.
Mark arches a brow. “You talk to her?”
“No.”
Alex tilts his head. “She talk to you?”
