Ch. 11: Between Us

There were things Sophia had learned never to say aloud, and most of them were about she.

Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to. 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.

Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to. "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen." Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to.

"You shouldn't have come," she said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

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."

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

The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to.

By the time the light faded, nothing was decided, and yet everything felt different.