Jennifer’s POV
The day passed like a shadow that never belonged to me.
I didn’t go to the hospital. I couldn’t. The thought of smiling at patients, of putting on a calm mask, felt impossible when inside me everything was breaking apart in sharp, jagged edges I couldn’t hold anymore.
So I stayed. I sat in the cottage that was supposed to be my sanctuary, curtains drawn against the world, the air still with the scent of bacon from the morning I hadn’t even touched. My limbs ached with restlessness, my head pounded with the silence I couldn’t escape.
I told myself I needed this—just one day to breathe. To be free of him. Free of the weight of his silences, the sting of his stare, the way he filled every corner of me without even trying.
But no matter how many times I repeated that lie, i
