Jennifer's POV
The cottage was too quiet.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet, not the kind that wrapped around you like a blanket and made you forget the world. This was the kind of quiet that pressed in from all sides, that made every creak of the floorboards, every groan of the wind through the shutters sound like something more.
Something waiting.
Something watching.
Jack was gone.
He hadn’t said where exactly, only that he’d go in my place. His words had been final, sharp-edged, brooking no argument. I’ll go. And then he’d left, his truck rumbling down the dirt road until even the sound of it was swallowed by the trees.
I told myself it was fine. That I was fine.
That I could handle being alone here for a few hours.
But my body didn’t believe me. Not with the ache still curling lo
