Chapter: 68

Since she'd driven to the bar, Celeste and I drove separately back to my house.

The drive back was short, but my thoughts ran far, looping in restless circles.

It had been just over three weeks since the divorce, and ten years of routine hadn't dissolved in twenty-one days. I still reached for habits that were no longer mine. Still paused at the door, expecting Daniel's thundering footsteps rushing to welcome me, Sera's quiet "Welcome home." I still half-listened for the soft clink of her cooking in the kitchen, for the faint scent of cinnamon and clove wafting from a candle she'd always kept lit.

But every time I walked into the house now, there was only empty silence.

And tonight, when I stepped inside with Celeste's hand in mine, that silence echoed louder than ever.