The knock comes again.
Not loud. Not soft. Just… sure of itself.
Sunny lifts his head from the floor, ears twitching. He lets out a small sound like he’s deciding whether to bark or be polite.
“Don’t,” I tell him quietly.
My heart is already doing too much.
I’m not expecting anyone.
Not Mara.
Not Luca.
Not—
I stand up anyway.
Slow. Like if I move too fast, whatever is on the other side will disappear and I’ll have to sit with the fact that I imagined it.
My hand rests on the handle.
Cold.
I don’t check who it is.
I already know.
I open the door.
And there he is.
Ethan.
For a second, I just stare at him.
Because my brain hasn’t caught up yet. Because he’s supposed to be somewhere else. Because we just argued over a phone call and now he’s standing here like distance is so
