MICHAEL

We finally leave Aliana’s office after the craziness of the day is over, we are both riding the elevator with other occupants to get to the garage.

The silence between us is strange but I have been avoiding her for weeks.

I’ve stayed away just to give her time to adjust to her new reality. Weeks of pretending distance is discipline. Weeks of answering texts with restraint and sleeping like a monk with a problem.

The elevator dings indicating others exited leaving just the two of us.

I don’t look at her.

That’s my first mistake.

“You’re avoiding me again,” Aliana says.

Her voice isn’t accusing it's soft and...