Chapter 64
Two weeks into his recovery, Luca had begun to look more like himself again, color returning steadily to his face, the worst of the bruising faded to faint yellow-green shadows along his jaw. His leg remained in its cast, propped carefully on a pillow, but the hospital had started talking about discharge within the coming days, transitioning him instead to outpatient physical therapy.
Sol visited every afternoon without fail, settling into the same worn chair he'd claimed weeks earlier, though the conversations between them had grown steadily easier over time, less weighted with the raw, frightening darkness of that first difficult night.
"Dr. Ferris says I'm doing better," Luca said that afternoon, picking absently at the edge of his blanket. "Emotionally, I mean. Not just t
