Ch. 8: An Unexpected Guest

He noticed her before she noticed him, which was usually how the worst trouble began.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen." The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia 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. "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.

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.

The past was not a place you could visit and leave unchanged. It followed you home.

"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."

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