Between Heartbeats
Violet noticed, of course. She always did.
She whispered "do not". Her hand went up to his jaw. Her fingers felt cool on his skin at first then they started to warm up like they were getting to know him. "Do not let your mind go back, to those places " she said. "Not now." Her thumb gently touched the skin under his cheekbone. "Stay with me here with me."
She did not raise her voice. She did not need to do that. There was a gravity, in the tone of the woman. It was gentle and steady. The tone of the woman was the kind that slipped past the defenses of the man of crashing into them. It made the edges of the man softer, the armor that the man wore when the man did not realize that the armor was still there. The tone of the woman softened the armor that the man wore.
