First message
Sean lay awake in bed, staring into the dark. Sleep wouldn’t come—his thoughts tangled in a mess of guilt and longing. Katie had left for a two-week business trip a few days ago, and though their marriage had long become more about parenting than passion, the empty space beside him felt too wide. The house, already quiet since his daughter moved out months earlier, now seemed to echo with that emptiness.
He tried not to think about his stepdaughter, the girl he’d helped raise, but lately his thoughts betrayed him. She wasn’t a child anymore, and the realization gnawed at him, shame and confusion twisting in equal measure. He’d been pulling away, avoiding her to protect them both, but the distance only made the feelings more impossible to ignore.
Just as he turned over, determined to clear his mind, his phone buzzed on the nightstand. Her name lit up the screen. Her voice, when he answered, was slurred and fragile—she’d been drinking at a friend’s house and wanted to come home. His heart tightened. Without hesitation, Sean grabbed his keys and headed out into the night.