Ch. 11: Between Us

The city never really slept, and tonight neither did he.

For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

Ela crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. Ela crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to.

"You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Ela said. "I'm asking you to listen." "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Ela said. "I'm asking you to listen."

"You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. "You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to.

She thought of all the versions of herself she might have been, and wondered which one he saw.

She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more. For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. Ela crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to.

Some stories end. Others only pause to gather their strength. Theirs was the second kind.