“I know.”
“I could have.”
“I know.”
“Please stop saying that.”
“I don’t know what else to say.”
“Try the part you left out.”
The room felt too small.
The filing cabinet.
The fish photograph.
The smell of sunscreen and old paperwork.
I wanted to reach for her.
I didn’t.
“I came here because I needed somewhere no one knew me,” I said.
“And then you didn’t.”
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“What was?”
“Be alone. Rest. Leave.”
“And me?”
“You weren’t in the plan.”
Her face closed slightly.
“That came out wrong.”
“It came out honest.”
I stepped closer.
Ellie did not move away, but she did not meet me either.
“You were the first person in years who didn’t already have an opinion about me,” I said.
“So you made sure I couldn’t form an informed one?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I wanted a few days where I could be Annie.”
“You are Annie.”
