Ch. 16: The Other Side of Truth

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

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.

Money could buy a great many things, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Money could buy a great many things, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. 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. 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.

There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do. There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do.

Money could buy a great many things, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Money could buy a great many things, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen."

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