Ch. 13: The Price of Silence

Rain traced long silver lines down the window, and somewhere a clock counted the hours.

For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. 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. 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," Ela said. "I'm asking you to listen." "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Ela said. "I'm asking you to listen."

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

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, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Money could buy a great many things, she 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.