Ch. 1: A Stranger in the Rain

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

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.

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

Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Emily crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more.

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

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

The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most.

The door closed softly, but the sound of it stayed with her for a long time.