Denver.
Selena was still asleep when I left the room.
She had been exhausted the night before in a way that had nothing to do with physical strain alone. The ceremony, her parents, the expectations she carried even when she tried not to show them… all of it had settled quietly inside her until it showed in the softness of her breathing against my chest after everything had ended.
Her hair was spread across the pillow the way it usually was when she was too tired to care about perfect posture or controlled movement. I had stood beside the bed for a moment before leaving, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest, making certain her breathing was steady.
I stepped out from the main house into air still cool enough to hold the scent of pine and damp earth drifting gently across the cou
