They left at dawn. The lake was still dark, the sky just beginning to lighten over the trees, and the house stood quiet behind them as Aaron pulled the car onto the road. Sophie was beside him, a cup of coffee in her hand, a bag packed for two nights in the back seat. She had not asked questions. She had simply been ready when he was.
The first hour passed without much conversation. The highway stretched ahead, the landscape shifting from forest to farmland to the dry, open terrain that marked the approach to the desert. Aaron drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the console, Sophie's hand finding his every few miles.
"You don't have to talk about it," she said eventually. "But you should know what you want to say before we get there."
"I don't know what I want to say. I just know I want to see him."
"That's enough."
