CHAPTER 6-SHADOWS BETWEEN THE LIGHT
249 Words
Chapter Six – Shadows Between the Light
The next morning, Florence felt different. The golden haze of the previous evening still lingered, but Claire noticed an unfamiliar tension in Ethan. He was quieter over breakfast, his sketches hidden beneath a closed cover.
They strolled through the Uffizi, the hush of the gallery wrapping around them. Ethan stopped in front of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, his gaze fixed but distant.
“You’re not here with me right now,” Claire said softly.
He blinked, as if waking from a dream. “Sorry. There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Her heart tightened. “Go on.”
He hesitated, then sighed. “I’m supposed to leave for Rome tomorrow. It’s… for work. An offer I’ve been waiting on for years. But it means cutting our time here short.”
Claire’s stomach dropped. “And you weren’t going to tell me until now?”
“I didn’t want to ruin this,” he said, eyes searching hers. “But the truth is, I don’t know when—or if—I’ll be back.”
They walked in silence after that, the city’s colors muted, the air heavy. Claire traced the edges of the sketch he’d given her on the bridge, wondering if their story had been just a brief masterpiece—beautiful, but destined to hang in memory rather than in life.
That night, the rain returned, soft and steady against the window, as if reminding her where it all began.
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