The swans drifted closer together on the water. The egret hadn't moved. Everything as it had been sixty seconds ago, and nothing the same.
"I'm not asking for anything. I know things are complicated for you." He held up his hands, palms out. "I just wanted to be honest about it. I'm here. You're here. That's all."
Her heart was beating too fast.
They stood there, the confession suspended between them. On the lake, one of the swans dipped its head beneath the surface and came up again, water streaming from its neck.
"We should head back," Olivia said at last.
They did. But the silence was different now, heavy with what he'd said, with what she hadn't.
At one point, the trail dipped down through a stretch of soft sand between the dunes. Olivia's foot caught on a buried root, and Michael's hand shot out, catching her elbow, steadying her.
"Careful."
His hand lingered. She felt the pressure of each finger through the thin fabric of her shirt.
"Thanks," she said, and he let go.
Neither of them acknowledged it. But when they started walking again, she was aware of every inch of space between them. How easily it could change.
The trail curved back toward the parking lot, dunes rising to their left, another pond glinting through the reeds. They passed families with binoculars, a couple holding hands, a woman jogging with earbuds in. Normal people doing normal things on a normal summer day.
Olivia wondered what they saw when they looked at her. A woman walking with a man who wasn't her husband. Nothing unusual. Nothing scandalous. A pair of hikers sharing the path.
Except she knew better.
"I'm not going to push," Michael said, as the parking lot came into view. "Whatever you decide, I'll respect it. But I'll be here. If you want to talk. Or walk. Or anything."
She nodded. She didn't know what to say.
They reached the lot. He walked her to her car, not touching, not even close enough to suggest it. Present. Waiting.
"I need time," she said.
"I know."
"I don't know what I'm doing."
"Neither do I." He smiled, barely. "But you know where to find me."
She got in the car and started the engine.
He stood there as she backed out of the space, still watching as she turned for the exit. In her rearview mirror, she saw him finally move, walking to his own car with his hands in his pockets.
The drive back to Sea Isle took thirty minutes. Olivia's hands shook on the wheel the entire way.
He'd come here for his own reasons. But he'd reached out to her. Told her what he wanted and left the decision in her lap.
And the terrifying part—the part that made her grip tighten on the wheel—was that she wasn't as guilty as she should be.
She was thrilled.
She tried to remember the walk, what they'd talked about, whether she'd given him any indication. But the details blurred, overwhelmed by the single sharp memory of his hand on her elbow.
On the Parkway, heading north, she realized something else. For two hours on that trail, she hadn't thought about Dan. Hadn't thought about the twins, the house, the marriage she was supposed to be saving.
That shook her too. Not just what Michael had said, but that she'd let herself forget her actual life so completely.
