Ch. 8: An Unexpected Guest

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

For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. Sophia 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.

Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Sophia 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. For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all.

Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. "You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to.

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

The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do.