Ch. 8: An Unexpected Guest

She had promised herself she would not come back to this place. She had promised a lot of things.

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. She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more.

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

"I'm not asking you to forgive me," Emily said. "I'm asking you to listen." There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do.

Every choice had a price. Emily had known that for years, and still the knowing never made it easier.

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.

She did not sleep that night. There was too much to lose, and far too much to want.