Amelia POV

I woke with Maxwell’s name lodged in my chest like a splinter I couldn’t pull free. It wasn’t the kind of thought that drifted lazily and disappeared with morning light. It stayed, persistent, pressing against every quiet moment as if demanding to be acknowledged. I lay still beside Ethan, listening to his even breathing, and wondered how something so simple as an afternoon had managed to unravel me so thoroughly.

All morning, I moved through the house on autopilot. I made ...