The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Ronnie stood in the doorway of Theo’s room, arms folded across her chest, watching her little brother sleep. His small frame curled under his favorite rocket ship blanket, chest rising and falling in even breaths. She leaned in and gently brushed a lock of hair from his forehead. He murmured something in his sleep and turned over, hugging his stuffed raccoon tighter.
Her throat tightened. She forced a smile for his sake and quietly shut the door behind her.
The moment she entered the hallway, the silence pressed in like fog. No murmured jokes coming from the kitchen. No low hum of Mark’s voice on the phone. No distant sound of his boots dropping by the door. Just the dull echo of her own breathing and the creak of the hardwood beneath her feet.
Ronnie pa
