For a long moment, I didn’t move.
Taylor stood there across the street, leaning against the same lamppost he always did, like nothing had changed, like he hadn’t vanished and left me to worry. His face was unreadable, the morning light casting soft shadows beneath his eyes. The cold air slipped between us, silent and sharp.
I tightened my grip on the strap of my bag. My pulse quickened, not with excitement, but with a dull ache that had been building since the last time I saw him. I wanted to ask him where he’d been. I wanted to demand why he always disappearedwithout a word. But when our eyes met, all that spilled into me was exhaustion.
So I walked past him.
I didn’t say a word. Didn’t slow down. My shoes hit the gravel in steady rhythm, the sound louder than it should’ve been in the
