**Chapter 69**
ELLIE'S POV
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Cole had said.
*She’s miserable. Just so you know.*
The words followed me into the next day like a bruise I kept pressing. Richard left early without speaking. Nathan had morning practice. By nine the house was empty and too quiet. I moved through the kitchen doing the same tasks I always did—wiping the already clean counter, rearranging the dish towel—pretending the routine could still hold me together.
It couldn’t.
I poured coffee I didn’t want and left it untouched until it went cold. I sat at the island and scrolled through my phone without absorbing a single word. Every small sound seemed louder than it should have been. I kept replaying the night before: Cole’s voice in the dim kitchen, the way he had looked at me,
