No one spoke as the test swabs were taken—just the sound of plastic cracking, cotton brushing against cheeks, and the scribble of names on labels. Daniel took the sealed envelopes. “I’ll drop them off at the lab. It should take a few days.” Lucas nodded. He expected anxiety to grip him. But mostly, he just felt hollow.
The days that followed moved slowly. Mark didn’t retreat like before. He came home earlier. He sat with Lucas while he did homework, helped with dinner, even fixed the dripping kitchen faucet that had been ignored for weeks. Dana noticed.