Shattered Love

nock at her door

om her lap, her heart punching against her ribs. For a heartbe

in the marrow of h

t. She hesitated, hand trembling just above the doorknob. She could walk a

he di

ked open - an

air, his jacket, his eyelashes. He looked like a man who had wrestled a storm and lost. His hands

ching moment, nei

ied deep inside. She had imagined seeing him again so many times, in so many different ways. She had imagined scream

ow, all she could d

had knocked the air from his lungs. "Hi," he

tled between them,

r a moment, his eyes searching hers, despe

omething that was unmistakably him. Memories swarmed her, unbidden - the feel of his

sked, her voice steady, even thoug

Good, she thought savagely. Let him feel what she had f

there's anything left to save. I don't know if you even want to hear anything I

never said, all the nights she had cried into her pillow, al

aid, her voice crack

were shining now, with rain or tears - she couldn't tel

f, the sidewalk, the world itself. She felt like she wa

her own confession tearing free. "I d

, as if she might bolt. His hands w

we both forgot that love isn't perfect. It's messy.

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to step into the

was a wall built brick by brick, and

she said, the truth spilling

uching his lips. "Me either. But maybe... may

nt, Emily

e opened the doo

ing inside, dripping and broken, carrying al

m, the rain outside kept fall

bruised, stood trembling on the f