The evening air was cool as Kieran parked his car outside Clara’s apartment building. He leaned back against the headrest for a moment, letting out a quiet sigh. His hands rested on the steering wheel, but his thoughts were elsewhere. Mostly tangled in the silence that had grown between him and Clara since the small misunderstanding last week.
They hadn’t fought. Not really. There were no raised voices, no sharp words. But there was something unsaid, something hanging between them like a faint shadow neither wanted to acknowledge first.
Tonight, though, he hoped things would feel lighter.
Clara had agreed to dinner after work. It wasn’t anything elaborate, just the two of them at a small Italian restaurant tucked in a quiet street a few blocks away. He’d chosen it because he knew she li
