Kayleigh

You set your things down the way you always do, but she notices the difference immediately. It’s late, the house already settled into its night rhythm, and she was halfway through turning lights off when she heard you come in. She stops when she sees your face. Not alarmed. Just attentive. The kind of attention that comes from knowing someone too well to miss the small changes. She doesn’t ask what happened yet. She just makes space for you to exist the way you are right now.