Dayton

Dayton waited until the water stopped moving.  Not because she was being soft. Because she was being careful.  When Ezra finally climbed out and stood on the porcelain slope, slick…

Ezra let the warm water run over him in Dayton’s sink, and he didn’t let himself pretend it was anything else.  This wasn’t a temporary indignity. It wasn’t a weird one night crisis. This was the new shape of his…

Ezra cleaned himself in the warm water. The berry soap actually smelled good, which was annoying. It wasn’t strong or sharp like adult soaps. It was gentle on purpose. Made for him. Made for…

“So there it is,” Dayton said, voice low. “All this time… you could’ve just admitted that.”  She looked at him like she was seeing him clearly for the first time, and…

Dayton lowered her hand into the sink and lifted Ezra out with a practiced gentleness, setting him on the counter beside the basin. From up here, the counter felt like…

Dayton backed into her room and kicked the door shut with her heel, Ezra steady on her shoulder like he weighed nothing and somehow still changed everything.  She lifted her…