He reverses out of the driveway. The gravel spits. He gives you one last look through the rear window. A half-smile. Then he turns the corner, and the taillights disappear into the bruised-purple dusk.

Outside, the first firefly of summer blinks on and off, on and off, like a tiny, stubborn heart. And you think, for the first time, that stay might not be a place. Maybe it’s just a promise you carry with you, folded in your pocket, for as long as you need it.

Then: never.

You fold it into a tight square. Put it in your back pocket.

But he doesn’t.