The rain had already started before I woke, soft and insistent against the glass like fingers tapping for entry. I stayed under the sheets longer than usual, not because I was tired but because the weight of everything we hadn’t said the night before still lingered in the air. Julian was not beside me. His side of the bed was still faintly warm, but the rest of the room had grown cold in his absence.

I got up slowly, pulling on one of his long-sleeved shirts that hung low over my thighs. The ...