Ch. 4: Midnight Terms

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

"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. There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do.

She remembered the first time, and the last, and all the ordinary days in between that had somehow mattered more. The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. 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." The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered.

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

Emily crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. Emily crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to.