“Donovan…” My name lands different in her mouth now. Like I mean something to her.
I look up at her, and I see it then. The drop. The crash after the fight and the adrenaline. When everything she’s been holding together finally starts to loosen… and crumble.
“You ate anything?” I ask.
She blinks. Like the question catches her off guard. “No.”
“Okay.”
I stand and move to the kitchen without another word. Water first. I grab a bottle, twist the cap, and bring it back to her.
“Drink.”
She takes a long pull like she didn’t realize how dry she was.
Good.
I watch her for a second longer than I should. Making sure.
Then I head back for something quick—crackers, whatever’s easy. Nothing fancy. Just enough to settle her stomach.
When I come back, she hasn’t moved, still sitting there, holding the bottle.
But her shoulders have dropped a little. Some of the tension relaxed.
I shift closer. “Here.”
She takes the crackers, eats one slowly. Then another. Her movements are smaller now. Careful.
Like she’s aware of her body again in a way she wasn’t before.
We sit like that for a minute, letting the silence settle. No need to fill it.
It’s not empty. It’s… settling.
Her foot brushes mine accidentally. I don’t move away. Neither does she.
“I had him.” Her voice is quieter now but resolute and steady.
I meet her gaze, but she’s staring past me, seeing something beyond me. “I know.”
“I didn’t freeze.”
I angle toward her fully now. “No, you didn’t.”
She nods once, like she needs to hear it out loud. “I thought I would,” she says. “I thought… when it came down to it…” Her words trail off.
I don’t fill the space. I let her find it.
“But I didn’t,” she finishes.
“No,” I say again. “You didn’t.”
Her fingers tighten around the water bottle.
“I had him on his knees.”
“I know.”
