The silence after someone says 'I'm fine'

It’s not the lie that sticks—it’s the quiet that follows. Like the breath before a wave breaks, or the second between two heartbeats when you’re standing on a dock and the water’s still. I’ve heard it too many times now, in voices that don’t match the eyes. Not a breakdown, just… absence. The kind that makes bread taste like a man who never came back. I don’t know what to do with it. Just listen. That’s all I can do now.