Chapter 54: A Swim

Roman The drive home was ghostly quiet. Savannah sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window as if the world rushing by outside was more interesting than anything inside the car. Her profile was unreadable, her lips pressed together so tightly they looked carved in stone. Her arms folded across her chest. I wanted to reach for her hand. I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to drown in silence, that she didn’t have to feel sad because her ex is having a baby with her sister. But I knew her well enough to know that if I pushed too soon, she’d hide her pain behind a joke. So I drove, my jaw tight, my grip squeezing the wheel until we pulled into the driveway. I unlocked the door and led her inside. The house was quiet, almost oppressively so. Not a single soul, no clinking dishes in the kitchen, no footsteps echoing through the halls. Just silence wrapping around us. Her shoulders were still drawn tight beneath my jacket, her eyes far away. I kept my hand on her waist as we climbed