Phei and Melissa did not exchange a single meaningful word for most of the drive.
And silence usually became uncomfortable when two people knew there were too many things sitting between them and neither possessed the courage, patience or cruelty necessary to drag the first one into daylight.
Yet Melissa had always possessed a peculiar talent for making silence feel inhabited rather than empty, and somewhere between Infinity Chaos disappearing behind them and the great morning avenues of Paradise opening ahead, Phei realized she had absolutely no intention of asking him anything.
She did not ask where he had been... what he had seen... why he had remained inside the car when Elena, her mother and Damien were waiting outside... what was wrong with him.
She simply drove.
