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She led Angel to the bench and sat down beside hi time, each lost in htly around her and stood up “I’ll give you a little ti to leave

He grabbed her hand “Don’t go”

She gazed down at hi the pain in his eyes, the fear and the frustration and the loneliness, and it threw her back to another tio, when he’d looked at her like that and said the very sa his hand, she sat down

Quietly he said, “I would change it all if I could”

She didn’t know if he was speaking to her or Francis, but it didn’t matter The confession wrapped around her, connected them “I knohat you mean”

He laughed, but it was a hollow sound “How could you? You’ve never run fro in your life”

She sighed “That only sho little you know hter, and I think I took Francis for granted I thought he’d always be there for me” She tilted her chin and stared out at the endless acres of grass, watching tiny knife blades of night steal across the headstones “I was afraid of Francis and Lina They both loved so easily and so well Unlike ht, especially with Lina I was always afraid I’d do the wrong thing, or say the wrong thing, and she’d leave me … just disappear one day and never come back”

He was silent for a minute, then he touched her chin, forced her to look at him “Like I did”

She couldn’t pretend his betrayal hadfor you to come back”

“It wasn’t you, Mad”

She tried to laugh “I didn’t see anyone else standing outside my bedroom ”

The smile he offered was sad “It was me I was scared of you and me and the baby Scared of what I felt for you How could I know…” His gaze held hers She waited, breathless and a little afraid of what he would say next He turned, stared out at the night sky, and when he finally spoke, his voice was raw “How could I know I’d never feel that way again?”

The words were ical She felt them wrap around her, squeeze her heart Answers ca the about the past, she knew that, and yet it felt like the future

In the end she said nothing, and the quiet slipped between them

“Say so, Mad”