Ch. 20: Where We Begin

If someone had told her a year ago that she would be standing here, she would have laughed.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Emily said. "I'm asking you to listen." Emily crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most.

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.

Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. 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." "You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. "You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to.

Outside, the world went on as if nothing had shifted. Inside, everything had.

"You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. 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.