She wasn’t so keen to return to the house either, but what else could they do? Go sit at the beach and watch the happy families?  Have breakfast as a little café and pretend everything was okay? It wasn’t, and she wasn’t sure when it could be again.

Two weeks. Two weeks to make one of the most important decisions of her life.  It simultaneously didn’t’ sound like enough time and like far too much time.  Too much, she decided.  She had to make this decision today or it would eat them both alive.  She couldn’t drag it out, couldn’t live like this for two weeks.

She let herself be pulled closer and tried to relax in his arms, but she was still too keyed up.  She needed time to think, time alone.  She wouldn’t shut him out, but she needed to really centre herself and consider every option.

When he leaned into her more she let out a breath and finally wrapped on arm around him, her other hand softly caressing his neck.  They both needed to feel this, both needed to let each other see it.  They couldn’t hide, they needed each other, but they had to approach this honestly.

Thinking of the paper in her pocket she knew she was already breaking that.  She would deal with that later, though.

“Together,” she said after a moment.  “How we do everything.”  Everything that mattered, at least, and this definitely mattered. 

 “I’ll drive,” she offered.  “It will give me something to focus on.”  She had driven in worse situations and made it out alive.  She could do this.