He pulled her into a hug that smelled like sandalwood and missing time. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “You did.”
The second week, the Wi-Fi router started blinking red. Mom panicked. “Call your father,” she said, handing Kenzie the phone. When Dad Is Away Ii Kenzie Taylor
“Who held down the fort?” he asked.
Kenzie Taylor knew it well. The long-haul flights, the hotel keys piling up in his nightstand drawer, the voicemails he’d leave at odd hours— “Hey, kiddo, just landed in Singapore. Tell your brother to behave.” The silence that followed wasn’t empty. It was full of small, sharp things: Mom humming too loudly in the kitchen, the dryer squeaking because Dad wasn’t there to fix it, and the way the stairs didn’t creak at 6:15 PM when he came home from work. He pulled her into a hug that smelled
Leo fell asleep. Kenzie stayed awake until the storm passed. Mom panicked