~RYLAND'S POV~
I gave her three days.
Not because three days felt like the right number, there was no right number, and I understood that. But because the first day was survival and the second day was the beginning of processing and the third day was when people who were carrying grief either started finding their way through it or started walling it off, and I wanted her to have the space to do whichever one was true for her without me being a variable in it.
So I checked on her. I made sure she was eating, not by asking directly, which she would have deflected, but by making sure food was available and present and close to wherever she was, and by watching whether it disappeared. It mostly did. I noted that without commenting on it. She was taking care of herself in the minimal functional sense and that was enough for now.
