Ch. 18: The Longest Night

The city never really slept, and tonight neither did he.

"You shouldn't have come," she said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen." For a heartbeat the careful distance between them thinned to nothing at all. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

"You shouldn't have come," she said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

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.

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." "You shouldn't have come," she said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. "You shouldn't have come," she said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to.

Tomorrow would ask its questions. Tonight, she let herself simply breathe.