In Silence, I Let You Go novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Certificate

I did not cry in his office, and I did not cry in his car.

Colter drove across the bridge with both hands on the wheel and did not ask where I wanted to go.

I watched the lights come on along the river.

For nine years I had been told one thing about a night in Reno.

I had believed it so completely that I had built my whole life on it.

Now the floor under that life had a different shape.

"Say something," he said at last. "Anything. Tell me to take you to Maggie's."

"Don't take me to Maggie's."

His hands tightened on the wheel.

"Hannah."

"I have been quiet for two weeks," I said.

"I have been calm for two weeks."

"I want one night that is not calm."

He pulled into a space outside a brick building on a quiet street and cut the engine.

For a moment neither of us moved.

"I need to say this first," he said.

"I'm not doing it because you're hurting."

"If you want me to drive you anywhere else, I will, and I'll never mention it."

"No pity."

"And nothing goes on the record until the board votes," I said.

"No one knows about us until then. Not Tim, and not your partners."

"That's two rules."

"I'm a product manager. I like a spec."

He laughed, and it surprised us both.

It was the first time I had heard him laugh without holding something back.

His apartment was on the third floor, with bare brick, books on the floor, and one lamp.

He had not turned on a second light when I put my hand flat on the middle of his chest.

His heart was going hard under my palm.

"You keep looking at my mouth," I said.

"You keep letting me."

I kissed him.

It was not gentle.

I had been told for years how to behave in every room.

I kissed him with everything I had been holding back.

He made a sound low in his throat and pulled me against him.

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