He carried his drunk ex-wife home in silence. No argument, no bitterness, no words. Just his arms, her weight, and a quiet so heavy it said everything 3 years of divorce papers never could.
Daniel Mercer had loved Claire once, completely, recklessly, with everything a man could give. But she had walked out that door on her own two feet. And tonight, on a cold sidewalk outside a bar she had no business being in alone, those same feet couldn’t hold her up anymore.
He didn’t have to stop. He didn’t have to carry her. He didn’t have to bring her safely home in silence when she had chosen to leave his home in noise.
But Daniel did, because that’s the kind of man he had become after her. Steady, quiet, unmovable. He said nothing the entire way, but his silence wasn’t cold. It was the silence of a man who had already cried every tear she never saw, grieved every version of them she threw away, and rebuilt himself from the wreckage she left behind.
