[Alexander's Car]
The car was quiet in a way that felt deliberate.
Evelyn rested her forehead lightly against the cool glass, watching the city pass. Everything looked normal outside, people walking, traffic lights changing, life moving on like nothing had nearly broken them two days ago.
Her fingers were knotted together in her lap.
Alexander drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting loosely near the gear shift. He kept glancing at her, not obviously, not insistently but often enough that she noticed.
"You are awfully quiet," he said eventually.
She let out a breath that sounded more like a laugh that forgot how to be one. "I am scared I will say something stupid if I talk."
That made him smile faintly. "You usually do and I still love you."
She turned her head and looked at him. There was exhaustion in his face, a bruise near his temple from the accident still faintly visible, proof that this wasn't a dream.
