Ch. 20: Where We Begin

The letter had arrived without a name, and that was the first thing that frightened her.

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

Nina crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. Nina crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

Every choice had a price. Nina had known that for years, and still the knowing never made it easier.

"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."

She did not sleep that night. There was too much to lose, and far too much to want.