Ch. 1: A Stranger in the Rain

She had promised herself she would not come back to this place. She had promised a lot of things.

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." For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. 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. She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen." There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do.

The past was not a place you could visit and leave unchanged. It followed you home.

She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more. "You shouldn't have come," she said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to.

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