(Matthew’s Point of View)
The words had barely left my mouth before I regretted them.
The phone call had been brief, impersonal. The kind of business call I had grown used to—nothing out of the ordinary. But the tension in the room felt heavier now, as if the very air between Esther and me had thickened. The brief moment of connection we’d shared—the kiss, the unspoken vulnerability between us—was now clouded by something I couldn’t name.
As I hung up the phone, the weight of the silence between us pressed down on me. I avoided her gaze, focusing on the phone in my hand, pretending the sharp sting in my chest didn’t exist. But it did. I felt it, burning through my chest like a wildfire I couldn’t control.
Esther had been quiet since I’d pulled away. Too quiet. And the longer I avoided
