Ch. 20: Where We Begin

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

Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Emily said. "I'm asking you to listen."

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

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," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most.

The truth, when it finally came, was smaller and sharper than she had imagined.

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.

Whatever came next, there would be no pretending it had not begun.