Ch. 11: Between Us

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

There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

Nina crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. 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. For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all.

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

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

"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," Nina said. "I'm asking you to listen." Nina crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to.

Whatever came next, there would be no pretending it had not begun.