Val Mercer is driving south alone.
I sit.
I sit a count.
Then I get up. I walk down the path. I walk past the side of the cabin. I walk past the truck. I climb the porch steps.
I knock.
"It's me."
The lock turns.
The door opens.
She is on the other side in the henley and the sweats and her golden hair is down, and her face is so beautiful, and she looks up at me, and she does not ask.
I step in. I want to fall apart in her arms. I want to hold her tight and never let her go.
She closes the door behind me. She locks it. She turns to me. She puts her arms around my neck. I put my forehead into the side of her neck where the pulse is. I stand in the doorway holding her. I stand a long count. The cabin is warm. Val is somewhere on the county road in the dark.
"Max."
"Yes."
"Are you all right?”
"No."
She holds me tighter and kisses my head.
"Evangeline."
"Yes." She moves her hands to my face.
"I told her I cannot."
She is very still.
"You told her you cannot what?” Evangeline is tender as she holds my face in her hands.
"End it."
She does not move.
"She told you to?”
"Yes."
"And you told her you won’t?”
"Yes."
She puts her hand on the back of my neck under my hair. She holds. She holds for a count I do not measure. Her breath is warm at the side of my throat. She kisses my neck and pulls me into her.
"Max."
"Yes."
