Ch. 18: The Longest Night

He noticed her before she noticed him, which was usually how the worst trouble began.

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

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

She thought of all the versions of herself she might have been, and wondered which one he saw.

"You shouldn't have come," she 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. "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen."

By the time the light faded, nothing was decided, and yet everything felt different.