The bar for men in my life had been buried so low for so long, it was easy to mistake decency for desire. But there’d been something in the way he’d stood there before leaving, hesitation caught in the space between us like a thread neither of us dared pull.
And then I’d touched his hand. Just a thank you, a gesture. But my fingers still tingled, and my heart hadn’t settled since.
It was just static. It had to be static.
Because anything else… Anything real? That would be harder to ignore.
I rolled onto my side and pulled the blanket up to my chest, tucking it close beneath my chin like armor. It was still too early to go to sleep and I still needed to eat dinner, but I just need to have this stillness for a moment.
I let the stillness hold me for a little while longer.
Just a few m
