(Cole)
I made dinner without thinking too much about it.
Something simple. Whatever was already in the kitchen. I had never been the kind of person who put effort into eating alone and tonight was no different.
Avery's call sat somewhere at the back of my mind while I ate. Not heavily. It was not grief and it was not regret. It was more like the particular clarity that came from having a door tested and finding it still closed. She had called expecting something and I had given her nothing to work with and that was the end of it.
What stayed with me after I put the plate in the sink was not Avery.
It was the contrast.
Avery had called because she wanted something from the past. She had left without hesitation and built a different life and then decided years later that a conversation
