In the afternoon, they stopped to eat on a rocky outcrop. Perry brushed a kiss on her cheek while she was chewing, and she learned that it was the loveliest thing to be kissed for no reason, even while chewing food. It brightened the woods, and the never sky, and everything.
She’d fallen into a deep silence once, when the sun appeared, and it was then he’d wondered most what she was thinking.
He’d pushed it back, where he’d kept the thought for weeks, but it wouldn’t stay. Wouldn’t stop. Wouldn’t let him go.
If there was no fear, how could there be comfort? Or courage?
It was an irrational fear. But when had fear ever been rational?
There was nothing more painful than hurting someone you loved.
But when a cut is deep, it’s still just flesh beneath.