Chapter 19 She Waited For The Knock That Never Came

• The bed was cold on his side. Not the kind of cold that lingered after someone left for coffee or returned with warm hands and a careless apology. This was the kind of cold that meant he had been gone for hours. Maybe since the middle of the night. Maybe before she even fell asleep. It felt intentional.
• Ivy lay still for a moment. The sheets twisted low around her hips. Her pulse moved slower than it should have. Her eyes remained open. She didn’t blink, didn’t reach for the phone. She already knew what it would say. Or rather, what it wouldn’t.
• The silence in the room didn’t feel peaceful. It pressed against her ribs like a weight she had earned. Her limbs felt heavy, her chest tight with something she couldn’t name. The space beside her, the one that still held the crease of his body, gave off no warmth. It gave off no memory. Just distance.