Julia

I placed my hand in Van’s, his long fingers wrapping around mine. During the ride, I’d been lost in my own thoughts, but now, seeing him, alarm bells sounded within me. There was a change in his expression that I couldn’t read. “Is something wrong?”

He helped me from the car and wrapped me in his arms. On the sidewalk, for all the world to see, we stood, me against him, his embrace tightening as the muscles beneath his shirt ...