I hated that I could still feel her like that. I started the engine, but didn’t drive. The silence came faster than I expected and pressed in, too thick, too full of ghosts. My phone buzzed beside me.
Myra. I swallowed hard and answered. “Hey, little one.”
Her voice was small and sleepy. “Daddy… did Auntie come?”
My chest tightened. “She did,” I said softly.
“She brought my necklace?”
“She did,” I said again. “You can wear it tonight once I get home.”
There was a pause. I heard a tiny sniffle, then a whisper. “I miss her. She smells like home.”
For a moment, I couldn’t speak. The sound of her voice, the innocence of it just cracked something deep inside me.
“She does,” I whispered. “Now get some sleep, princess.”
“Okay,” she murmured, and I waited to hear the soft rustle of blanke
