SCARLET ♠️
I was home by two-thirty.
Noah was asleep, I could tell from the quality of the house’s silence before I even reached the bedroom, the specific stillness of a space that has been unoccupied and undisturbed for hours. I stood in the doorway for a moment. His shape under the covers, the even breathing, the arranged side of the bed. The familiar landscape of a man completely at rest.
I went to the bathroom. Closed the door softly. I turned on the shower.
I stood under the water for a long time. Not scrubbing anything away, I want to be clear about that. I was not standing under the shower trying to wash Ray off me or erase the evening or perform any kind of ritual cleansing that would have implied regret I did not feel. I stood under the water because I needed to think and I
