Day thirty-nine felt like the house had started counting down out loud. The mist had burned off by mid-morning, leaving Willow Creek bright and green, but the air inside Maple Lane carried a new urgency. Amina had texted the night before: “Dinner tonight. Same time. I’ll bring pasta salad. Porch if it’s nice. Three weeks until I go back to college. Let’s not waste the time we have left.”
Elias read the message while I was still curled against his chest in bed. His arm tightened around me instantly, that familiar clingy grip turning almost desperate. His hazel eyes darkened with the knowledge that their dinners were now numbered.
“She’s counting the weeks,” he murmured, voice low. “Three weeks until she leaves for college. This is real now.”
He didn’t wait for more words. He rolled me on
