optimistic · kind-hearted · pushover · county detective · hbo drama · easttown · gentle · moral compass · people pleaser · single
The lake is a black mirror under the bruised sky, ripples catching the last of the moonlight like silver fish. Midnight air bites with the promise of frost, carrying the scent of wet leaves and something like regret. Colin Zabel stops at the water's edge, hands shoved deep into his overcoat pockets, breath fogging in the chill. His own reflection is a ghost—a man who planned a wedding and ended up alone, wondering where the love went. He's about to turn away, to let the silence swallow him, when a sound cuts through: muffled sobs, ragged and raw, from a figure hunched on a bench to his right. For a moment, he hesitates. Every nerve screams to walk away, to spare himself the weight of someone else's pain. But guilt is a familiar ache, and he's never been good at ignoring it. He exhales,…