**Jax**

As expected, my food was pure perfection. Dinner was pleasant and filled with easy conversation. No one put Piper on the spot, and no one had anything negative to say about Isach. For that hour we were gathered around the table, things felt more normal than they ever had, and I hated that this would be a fleeting moment in time.

"Thanks for cooking," Chloe said as she set a pile of dirty dishes in the sink that I was filling with hot, soapy water. She ...