Silence didn’t scream.
It didn’t shatter glass or break doors.
It crept in slowly—
between unanswered texts,
between pauses that lasted too long,
between words that were swallowed instead of spoken.
And somehow, it hurt more than any fight ever had.
⸻
Ava Montgomery learned this on a Tuesday afternoon when she realized she had started measuring her days by how much she didn’t hear from Jaxon.
Not because he had promised to call.
Not because they were fighting.
But because once upon a time, his presence had been instinctive.
Now, it was intentional.
And intention came with distance.
She sat at her desk, eyes scanning documents she’d already read twice, fingers tapping restlessly against the table.
Her phone lay face down.
She hadn’t checked it in an hour.
That alone felt li
