JJ
Millie’s question followed me all the way home.
“Can I have my own bedroom now?”
She had asked it so casually, standing in the doorway of my future tattoo shop with her purple math notebook hugged against her chest, but I heard everything underneath it.
For weeks, she had slept beside me because waking up and finding me there mattered more than having her own space. Even after she stopped jolting awake every hour, she still reached for me in her sleep sometimes, one small hand landing against my arm or stomach as if she needed proof I had not disappeared.
I should have been thrilled, but when we walked into Benny’s house and Millie immediately headed down the hall to inspect bedrooms, something pinched beneath my ribs.
Benny caught my expression. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I watched Mil
