The house felt different without Jason.
It wasn’t just quiet—it was hollow, like someone had taken all the color out of the walls. His absence pressed against me in every room, a ghost haunting spaces he’d once filled with his smirks, his teasing, his infuriating confidence.
I told myself I wanted this. That choosing family was the right decision. But every time I passed his empty chair at the dining table, every time I walked by his closed bedroom door, the ache in my chest deepened.
Jason hadn’t come home since the fight.
⸻
“Olivia,” Mom said softly one evening as we folded laundry together, “you did the right thing.”
I nodded, though the lump in my throat made it impossible to reply.
“He’ll come around,” she continued, forcing a smile. “Jason’s stubborn, but he’ll realize this wa
