Caroline POV
The house smelled like burnt coffee and the particular mustiness that clung to every surface at my brother’s place, as if the walls themselves had given up on fresh air years ago. I sat on the edge of his sagging couch in the living room, knees pressed together, nursing a mug of tea that had gone lukewarm twenty minutes earlier.
Richard was in the kitchen clattering dishes, muttering about the game he’d missed because of “family obligations.” As if hosting his only sister for a night counted as some grand sacrifice. I hadn’t wanted to come here—his suburban split-level with its faded wallpaper and perpetual bachelor mess—but the alternative was my own empty home, where the silence pressed in especially since Ethan has gone back to campus.
My phone lay face-down on the coff
