Chapter 41

• "Yeah. So, that's something that we both have to work on," he says, his voice quieter now, more grounded than it had been before. It was as though all the weight of everything we had been through simply sat between us in that moment and hung in the air. And he looked at me with that softness that I had not seen since before the argument.
• "Exactly," I say, nodding slowly in agreement, my voice matching the tone of his. It was as though at last we were both in the same book. And then, without a moment he bent over and kissed me. Slow, significant—one of those kisses that speak and say things words do not. Lamenting like he was so sorry for the fact that he did not want to leave. It was all in one moment.
• "Alright. We can do that," he says afterwards, nodding as if confirming some silent promise between us. His tone was firm now, as though he said it with all the fiber of his body.