Elliott froze. He scrambled to pull up his email inbox, and sure enough, there was an unread email sitting quietly inside.
But two days earlier, he'd been out shopping with Selena. He'd only glanced at the notification once and brushed it right off.
Once the call ended, he slid slowly down the side of the wardrobe, pressing his palms to his face. It hit him all at once—something vital was slipping through his fingers, and he couldn't stop it.
He sat there on the floor for ages before he finally tapped open his messaging app with a shaking hand. He'd meant to pull up his chat with me, but his gaze locked on the family group chat further down the list.
On a strange, unaccountable impulse, he tapped into the group he hadn't checked in months. The second he registered the messages inside,
