Charlie
Silence had always been better but I could not lie that I still felt like absolute trash for letting anything out because of a stupid promise.
Serena was already in the kitchen when I came downstairs, dressed and composed in the careful way she dressed when she was trying to appear unbothered, and she looked up the moment I walked in.
"Good morning," she offered.
I pulled a mug from the cabinet, poured my coffee and stood at the counter with my back half turned to her, drinking it in silence.
"Charlie," she tried again, softer this time.
I drank my coffee, without a word.
She moved toward the table and sat down, watching me with the particular patience of a woman who had decided that this morning was going to be the morning I cracked. I finished the last of my coffee, set th
