Ch. 18: The Longest Night

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

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. "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." There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do. "You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to.

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. "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Nina said. "I'm asking you to listen."

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

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

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.

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