The weeks passed in soft, steady rhythms. Willowridge’s days were still wrapped in mist, but the town had started to feel a little less unfamiliar, a little more like home. Sienna found herself waking to the sound of rain and not the ache of loneliness. The library, once a quiet refuge, became a space she filled with small interactions—Nora’s banter, the rustle of pages being turned, and the soft scrape of chairs as the townsfolk sat down for their morning coffee.
The only constant, it seemed, was the way Liam would appear each morning with a fresh cup of coffee from the diner. Sometimes he brought pastries, sometimes just a smile, always a brief exchange that, over time, grew into an unspoken routine.
One Wednesday, after the morning rush had died down, Liam paused near the entrance, a cup of coffee in his hand. He didn’t move for a moment, just standing there, his eyes scanning the shelves, the quiet between them as thick as it had been when they first met.
Sienna looked up from her work, feeling the weight of his gaze, though he wasn’t looking at her directly. She watched as he ran a hand through his hair, a habit of his she had come to recognize.
“What’s on your mind today?” she asked before she could stop herself.
He looked at her then, and for a moment, she almost thought he might say something—something more than the usual polite exchanges they shared. But instead, he just shook his head.
“Nothing really,” he said, walking toward the counter. “Just... thinking.”
“About what?” she pressed, her voice almost a whisper.
He hesitated, and for a second, she thought he might walk away without answering. But then he spoke, the words coming out slow, deliberate.
“About how much easier it is to leave things unsaid,” he said quietly. “How... much easier it is to pretend that nothing’s really going on.”
Sienna didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t expected this, hadn’t anticipated the quiet tension that seemed to stretch between them. She set down her pen, watching him with cautious curiosity.
“Sometimes, pretending is all we can do,” she said softly. “Otherwise, everything falls apart.”
He didn’t respond immediately, but his gaze lingered on her for just a moment longer than necessary. Then, as though shaking himself from whatever thought had taken hold of him, he smiled.
“Guess that’s true,” he said, though his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Anyway, you’ll probably want to get back to work.”
Sienna watched him for a moment longer, her thoughts turning over something he’d said. She didn’t know what he meant, or what it meant for her, but the feeling of his presence lingered in the air long after he left.
She returned to her work, though the quiet felt heavier now, filled with the weight of unsaid things.
The next morning, the library seemed quieter than usual. The familiar sounds of the town—rain tapping against windows, Nora’s greeting as she walked in, the hum of the ceiling fans—were all present, but something had shifted in the space between them.
Liam arrived at his usual time, a cup of coffee in hand. He set it on the counter, his eyes flickering briefly to hers before he turned to the shelves.
“Busy day?” he asked, a casual question, but there was something unspoken in his tone, as if he were trying to gauge the air between them.
Sienna hesitated, then nodded. “Just the usual.”
She watched him as he browsed the shelves, his movements slow and deliberate, as though he were searching for something—anything. She knew he wasn’t there for the books, not really. There was always something else on his mind, something that lingered just out of reach.
“Do you ever think about leaving?” he asked suddenly, his voice low.
The question caught her off guard. She looked up from her work, meeting his gaze for the first time that morning. His eyes held a question, but also a kind of vulnerability she hadn’t seen before.
“Leaving?” she echoed, unsure of what he meant. “Why would I leave?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice distant. “Sometimes I feel like... like staying means you’re stuck, and I’m not sure I’m ready to be stuck.”
Sienna didn’t know what to say to that. She had always been the one who kept her distance, who held back from getting too close. She hadn’t ever really thought about leaving, not in the way he meant. But now, with his words hanging in the air, she found herself wondering if there was more to his question than she’d realized.
“I don’t think staying means you’re stuck,” she said finally. “I think it means you’re choosing something.”
He looked at her, his gaze softening. “Choosing what?”
She thought for a moment, the quiet between them stretching out. “Choosing to be here. With what’s around you. Even if it’s not perfect.”
The words felt heavy as they left her lips, more truth than she intended to speak. But Liam didn’t look away. Instead, he nodded, as if understanding something she hadn’t fully said.
“I guess that’s something we both need to figure out,” he said quietly, his gaze lingering on her for a moment longer than usual.
And for the first time in weeks, Sienna felt the weight of something settle between them—not the silence that had always been there, but something deeper, something unspoken but felt in every moment they shared.
He turned to leave, but before he did, he glanced back at her.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, his voice soft, almost uncertain.
Sienna nodded, her heart beating a little faster than it had before. “See you tomorrow.”
And as he walked out the door, the weight of his question lingered, heavy in the stillness of the library. She wasn’t sure what it meant for them, or what it meant for her. But somehow, she knew that things were changing, in ways she couldn’t yet understand.
For the first time in a long while, she wasn’t sure what the next step would be. But she was beginning to realize that maybe it was okay not to know.
Comments (0)
See all