Ch. 4: Midnight Terms

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

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.

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

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

There are moments that divide a life into before and after. This was becoming one of them.

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