Page 99 of The Silence Between

He rolled us onto our sides, keeping me close, one arm draped around my waist. Our legs tangled under the sheets, and for a while, there was just silence, the kind that felt safe. Shared.

“I’m scared,” I admitted quietly.

“Of what?”

“That I’ll wake up and this will be gone. That something will pull us apart again.”

He kissed my shoulder. “Then I’ll spend every morning proving to you that it’s not.”

I closed my eyes, my heart full to the point of breaking. I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but for tonight, I was exactly where I belonged.

* * *

“Start with what you already know,”I suggested, spreading Leo's textbooks across his kitchen table. “You've been managing finances for years. Basic accounting principles will feel familiar, just with formal terminology.”

It was Tuesday evening, four days after our dinner, and I'd offered to help him prepare for his first community college classes starting next week. Mari supervised homework in the living room while Diego and Sophie worked through their assignments, the apartment humming with the quiet industry of a family evening.

“Financial statements make sense,” Leo nodded, reviewing the sample balance sheet from the textbook. “It's just organized common sense, tracking what comes in and goes out.”

“Exactly. You've been doing this intuitively for years.”

He glanced up with a wry smile. “Though my balance sheet would depress most accounting professors.”

“Balance is balance, regardless of the numbers,” I replied. “The principles are the same whether you're managing a household or a corporation.”

We moved through the introductory chapter of his accounting textbook, his quick understanding confirming what I'd already known—beneath the practical intelligence that had kept his family afloat lay a sharp analytical mind that had never had the opportunity to be formally challenged.

“This business management class will be interesting,” he mused, flipping through the other textbook. “Especially now that I'm actually managing the bookstore.”

“You're getting the education to match the position you already earned,” I pointed out. “Most people do it the other way around.”

“Backward, like everything else in my life,” he said, but without bitterness.

Our study session was interrupted when Sophie padded into the kitchen in pajamas, hair damp from her bath, a troubled expression on her small face.

“What's wrong, honey?” Leo asked, immediately setting aside the textbook.

“Bad dream,” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. “The one about Dad again.”

Leo shifted smoothly from student to caretaker, his focus narrowing to his sister with practiced intensity. “Come here,” he said, opening his arms. Sophie climbed into his lap despite being almost too big for it, burying her face against his shoulder.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked softly, stroking her hair.

She shook her head. “Just stay with me for a minute?”

“Of course.”

I watched silently, aware I was witnessing something intimate and private. The easy way Leo transitioned between roles, never giving one less than his full attention while somehow maintaining space for all of them. It wasn't perfect or seamless, but it worked through years of practiced necessity.

After a few minutes, Sophie's breathing deepened as she dozed against his chest. Leo glanced at me apologetically.

“I should put her back to bed,” he said. “This might take a few minutes.”

“Take your time,” I replied, keeping my voice low. “I'm not going anywhere.”

When he returned fifteen minutes later, having settled Sophie back to sleep with what I imagined were practiced reassurances, he slipped back into his chair with a tired smile.

“Sorry about that.”

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