Sophia
I’d been avoiding him again.
It wasn’t obvious, not really. I still showed up for dinner and still answered his questions when he asked them. Still nodded politely when he walked into the room. But I never stayed long. I never lingered.
And yet… I watched him.
When he spoke to Isabella, soft and patient like a brother she never had. When he helped Rosa carry a box of canned goods from the kitchen without being asked. When his eyes would find me across the room and flicker—something I couldn’t read. I watched him then, too.
I watched the way he moved, how his voice lowered around me like he was trying not to wake something fragile. He wasn’t loud, not like Mike. He didn’t fill a room. He just… took up space in a way that was quiet but impossible to ignore.
And I hated how much
