Chapter 8- Crossing the Distance
247 Words
Chapter Eight – Crossing the Distance
Claire didn’t answer right away. The café seemed to hold its breath, the rain outside softening to a mist. She closed the sketchbook gently and looked at Ethan.
“If we walk away now,” she said, “we’ll always wonder. I don’t want ‘what ifs.’”
A flicker of hope lit his eyes. “You mean—”
“I mean we figure it out,” she said. “Florence, Rome, wherever. We keep finding each other.”
Relief washed over his face, followed by a smile that seemed to warm the room. He reached across the table, his fingers closing around hers. “Then we’re agreed. This isn’t the end. Just… a change of scenery.”
The next day, they parted at the train station—her train bound for Venice, his for Rome. The platform was crowded, but for a few stolen minutes, it was just them.
Ethan kissed her, slow and sure, the kind of kiss that carried promises instead of goodbyes. “I’ll call tonight,” he murmured, stepping back.
As the train pulled away, Claire pressed her palm to the window, watching him grow smaller until he was a blur against the city. She didn’t feel the ache of an ending—only the rush of a beginning that dared to stretch across miles.
Some loves didn’t need to stay in one place. They just needed two hearts willing to keep crossing the distance.
- Writer
