Harper’s expression shifted, something gentler threading through her usual dry amusement. “Sav didn’t see them, did she?”
“No,” Tilly said. “She’s not here.”
Harper frowned. “Right. She called out.”
That single phrase made Tilly look up. “You knew?”
Harper lifted her phone slightly. “Yeah. I saw her name wasn’t on the rundown. I texted her to check in.”
Tilly’s chest tightened. “She answered?”
Harper nodded. “She said she needed today.”
Tilly swallowed. “Did she say anything else?”
Harper shook her head. “No. Just that.”
Tilly nodded, throat tight, and looked away before Harper could read anything else on their face.
Harper lingered anyway. “For what it’s worth, she doesn’t take days off unless something’s really wrong.”
Tilly breathed out slowly. “I know.”
Harper shifted her coffee to her other hand. “Okay. I’m going to say this carefully.”
Tilly braced.
“She didn’t seem mad,” Harper said. “Just seemed tired.”
That hurt worse.
Harper watched them for a beat, then added, quieter, “Savannah isolates when she’s scared. Not when she’s done.”
Tilly didn’t trust their voice, so they just nodded.
Harper gave a small nod back and headed toward her desk, leaving Tilly alone with the hum of the newsroom and the flowers that had started this whole thing.
The rest of the day dragged.
Every hour felt longer than the last. Tilly checked their phone more times than they could count and never once unlocked it. They didn’t text Savannah. They didn’t call. They didn’t want to cross a line they’d already tripped over once.
By the time they packed up to leave, the flowers were limp, petals curling in on themselves.
Tilly threw them away.
They hadn’t stopped wanting Savannah.
They just didn’t know how to reach her without making things worse.
And that uncertainty followed them all the way home.
Forty Six
Savannah told everyone it was last-minute.
A small thing. Nothing fancy. Snacks in bowls, cheap champagne, the TV muted on the countdown. She sent the group text mostly as a distraction, a half-joke she didn’t expect people to take seriously.
Then people said yes.
