When Lila moved away with her husband, Ethan found solace in writing her letters. He wrote about his work, his travels, and the quiet life he led back in Cedarvale. But most of these letters he never sent.
One night, while organizing his desk, Ethan found the stack of unsent letters tied together with twine. He flipped through them, smiling at some and feeling the ache of unspoken words in others.
"I've never stopped thinking about you," he had written in one. "But I know that's selfish."
Though he never mailed them, the act of writing kept him connected to her in a way that felt intimate yet safe.