-Julien Grayson:
Well, this is awkward, I thought.
The realization didn't come all at once. It settled slowly, like something heavy lowering itself onto my chest, pressing down until even breathing felt… deliberate.
I sat stiffly on the couch, my hands folded together in my lap, fingers twisting faintly against each other in a quiet, nervous habit I hadn't even realized I'd fallen into. The living room—our living room, the one I had grown up in, the one that had always felt warm and safe—felt different now.
Smaller.
Tighter.
Like the walls were leaning in just enough to remind me that nothing about this moment was normal.
Because Ezra was sitting next to me.
Right next to me.
Close enough that the heat of his body seeped through the thin fabric of my sleeve. Close enough that if I shifted even slightly, I'd be on his lap. Close enough that I was painfully aware of every small movement he made—or didn't make.
And across from us…
My entire family.
