"Sharon," I say carefully. "I need to show you something."
She turns to look at me, and I can see the moment she registers my tone. The moment she understands this is serious.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
I hand her my phone with Ben's message pulled up.
I watch her face as she reads it. Watch the way her expression shifts from confusion to understanding to something complicated I can't quite name. Hope mixed with caution mixed with old hurt.
"He texted you," she says finally, her voice flat. "About himself. To tell me."
"Yeah," I say.
"Seven days," she says, reading the message again. "That's the longest he's ever made it."
"It is," Pine confirms. "That's progress."
She hands my phone back and turns forward again. "What do you think I should do?"
Fuck. I hate this question because there's no right answer.
"I think," I say carefully, "that you should do whatever feels right to you. If you want to respond, respond. If you don't, don't. But whatever you choose, we're here."
"What would you do?" Sharon asks.
"And honestly? I don't fucking know. Part of me wants to believe him."
"That's exactly how I feel," Sharon says quietly.
"You don't owe him anything," Cassian says, his hands steady on the wheel.
"But what if this time is actually different?" Sharon asks.
"Then he'll do it without you there," Pine says. "Sharon, you are not responsible for his recovery. You can choose to be supportive if you want, but you don't have to."
Sharon's quiet for a long moment.
"I want to text him back," she says finally.
She takes my phone and types out a response. I watch her thumbs move across the screen, typing and deleting and typing again.
"I'm glad you're trying. Seven days is progress. Keep going. I'm rooting for you."
She shows me before sending it.
"That's perfect," I say.
She hits send and immediately puts my phone face down on the center console.
"He might text back," I warn her.
"I know."
“Okay.”
We drive in silence for another ten minutes before my phone buzzes. Sharon's eyes go to it but she doesn't pick it up.
"Do you want me to read it?" I ask.
