(Aspen’s POV)
Slade left before sunrise.
I knew because the low rumble of his truck drifted across the yard and through the thin walls of the guest house. I lay still in bed, listening as the sound faded, then disappeared entirely.
He didn’t knock.
He didn’t text.
He didn’t say goodbye.
That shouldn’t have bothered me. He was working. He always left early on game days. Still, once the sound was gone, the silence felt heavier than it should have.
I stared at the ceiling for a moment before sitting up.
The day stretched ahead of me, unclaimed.
Holly padded into my room not long after, wrapped in one of my sweaters, hair sticking up in all directions.
“He left,” she said.
“Yes.”
“When is he coming back.”
“The day before Christmas Eve.”
She nodded seriously, as if committing it t
