Ch. 3: What She Didn't Say

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

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen." "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen." She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more.

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. 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," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen." Money could buy a great many things, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most.

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

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

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