Ryan’s world stilled. Moved out? Without mentioning it? Without a word? The breath left his lungs like someone had punched it out of him. He walked outside slowly, as if movement required conscious effort, not noticing the breeze or the traffic or the world still spinning; everything inside him had frozen. Two days ago, she had moved, and he hadn’t known. He sat on the curb outside her building, fingers pressed to his forehead as his pulse thundered in his ears, a sharp ache building in his chest as fear sharpened into something rawer. Where was she? Why didn’t she tell him? What happened? His vision blurred, and he dragged a hand across his face. He hadn’t cried in years, hadn’t allowed himself to break, but that night his eyes burned, and his throat tightened, and he felt something insid
