And just like that, he could mistake her for a stranger again. She was back to being the woman he had married sleepwalking – she had recovered so fast, from the fight and the tears and the kiss.
Philip felt – winded, dazed, delusional. He staggered half a pace backwards, body and brain trying to catch up with the change in her. “Fine,” he agreed, more readily and seriously than he had meant; he wasn’t actually sure, in this moment, that he had the will or the capacity to provoke her to anger again. His hand came to his mouth, as if to check that he hadn’t imagined it all. I know you didn’t, he almost said, or only if you don’t scare me like that again, but the strange softness between them... it couldn’t stay.
With a jerky nod, he glanced out beyond the greenhouse’s fogged up glass. “When the snow stops, we’ll fly back to the house.” She had broken one broom, but they could share his.
Philip felt – winded, dazed, delusional. He staggered half a pace backwards, body and brain trying to catch up with the change in her. “Fine,” he agreed, more readily and seriously than he had meant; he wasn’t actually sure, in this moment, that he had the will or the capacity to provoke her to anger again. His hand came to his mouth, as if to check that he hadn’t imagined it all. I know you didn’t, he almost said, or only if you don’t scare me like that again, but the strange softness between them... it couldn’t stay.
With a jerky nod, he glanced out beyond the greenhouse’s fogged up glass. “When the snow stops, we’ll fly back to the house.” She had broken one broom, but they could share his.
