Telling someone you miss them is a risk. So is letting them think you don’t.

There is no risk free option here, which is the part that usually gets missed. Saying it exposes you, and not saying it quietly tells them something untrue, which is its own gamble with worse odds. Silence feels safe only because its cost arrives later and never arrives as a single moment you can point at.

Send the short version. I was thinking about you, I miss this. No essay, no explanation of why you went quiet. Most of the time the reply is warmer than you were braced for, and if it is not, you have an answer instead of a maybe.