Sleep didn't come easily after Jace left.
Not because he'd been gone long. I mean, it was barely twelve hours, but because the empty side of the bed felt wrong. Too cool. Too untouched. Too quiet. Jace wasn't a loud sleeper by any means, but he existed in a way that filled the whole room. His presence did something to the air. It softened it, anchored it… settled it.
I missed him.
Without him, everything felt slightly tilted, as though I were walking through a house that had been rearranged by invisible hands.
He called a few minutes after he landed.
I was in the kitchen, slicing strawberries I wasn't even hungry for. The phone vibrated beside me, and my entire body reacted before my mind did. I snatched it up quickly, pressing it to my ear.
"Jace?"
His voice came warm, steady and even. A little too even. "Hey, baby."
I swallowed, easing myself against the counter as my daughter shifted beneath my ribs. "You landed?"
