Ch. 13: The Price of Silence

Rain traced long silver lines down the window, and somewhere a clock counted the hours.

The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. "You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most.

She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more. There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do.

For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most.

They did not speak for a long moment. Some silences carry more than words ever could, and this was one of them.

Sophia 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. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to.

By the time the light faded, nothing was decided, and yet everything felt different.