Ch. 20: Where We Begin

If someone had told her a year ago that she would be standing here, she would have laughed.

The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do. Ela crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to.

Ela crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way she was watching without seeming to. Money could buy a great many things, she had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. "You shouldn't have come," she said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to.

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.

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

They did not speak for a long moment. Some silences carry more than words ever could, and this was one of them.

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. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.