Maria:
“He didn’t even text.”
Saying it out loud makes it feel heavier than it did in my head. It sits between us, solid, like something we can both see now.
Lily doesn’t react immediately. She just looks at me, really looks this time, like she is trying to understand what I’m not saying along with what I am.
“Wait,” she says finally. “What do you mean he didn’t text?”
I shrug, like it’s not as strange as it sounds. “I mean exactly that. No call, no message. Nothing.”
Her brows pull together slightly.
“Did something happen?” she asks.
“No.”
“Nothing at all?”
I shake my head. “Nothing.”
That’s the part that bothers me. There’s nothing to point to. No argument, no misunderstanding, no moment where things went wrong. Just silence.
Lily shifts on the bed, turning toward me fully no
