Chapter Seven
Morning comes too quickly. I wake to the smell of coffee and the faint sound of Bella humming through the bathroom door as she brushes her teeth. She’s already bounced back from yesterday, her fall just a blip in her day. She doesn’t even mention it as she gulps down cereal like nothing ever happened. I try to mirror her ease, but my chest still tightens every time I picture her knee mending under my hand, the warmth flooding through me, the drain afterward.
It wasn’t normal. None of it was.
Bella chatters about a project at school while I pack her lunch. She doesn’t notice my fumbling hands, the way I avoid looking at the pink skin of her knee. When we walk to school, I cling too tightly to her hand, pretending it’s just the crowd making me protective. Really, I'm scanni
