Rita's Point Of View
"Let's go back to Texas."
The moment those words tumbled from my mouth, Charles went completely rigid beneath me. The man froze like a stone statue, his entire chest seizing up under my palms. His breathing stopped mid-inhale, as if the air itself had solidified in his lungs.
His eyes went incredibly wide, tracking my face with an intensity that bordered on desperation, searching for any hint that I might be playing some cruel joke on him after two months of carefully dodging the subject entirely.
He sat up straight so fast it nearly knocked me off his lap, resetting his posture as if the change in position could somehow clarify what he'd just heard. The sudden movement sent a ripple through the leather couch beneath us. I watched the confusion and hope war across his features, neither emotion willing to surrender ground to the other.
