His words settled into me, and the compulsion I’d felt to run slowly dimmed. I was so used to avoiding conflict, so used to assuming people wanted nothing to do with me, that the idea of him trying to talk through things and come to an understanding together… It was more intimate than any touch. I didn’t have to run. I didn’t have to hide myself behind masks of indifference or sharp edges. I could be free. And for the first time, I realized that’s all I’d wanted all along.
