So we lay down and love till the shadows covered us. After a time she slept, as I desired.
I set a spell upon her to keep her asleep, for I was beginning to have second thoughts over the wisdom of making this journey. Then I dressed both of us and picked her up to carry her back. I took a shortcut.
On the beach from which we’ d started I put her down and stretched out beside her. Soon I slept also.
We did not awaken till after the sun was up, when the sounds of bathers roused us.
She sat up and stared at me.
“Last night,” she said, “could not have been a dream. But it couldn’t have been real either. Could it?”
“I guess so,” I said. She furrowed her brow.
“What did you just agree to?” she asked.
“Breakfast,” I said. “Let’s go get some. Come on.”
“Wait a minute.” She put a hand on my arm. “Something unusual happened. What was it?”
“Why destroy the magic by talking about it? Let’s go eat.”
She questioned me a lot in the days that followed, but I was adamant in refusing to talk about it. Stupid, the whole thing was stupid. I should never have taken her on that walk. It contributed to that final argument that set us permanently apart.
And now, driving, as I thought about it, I realized something more than my stupidity. I realized that I had been in love with her, that I still loved her. Had I not taken her on that walk, or had I acknowledged her later accusation that I was a sorcerer, she, would not have taken the route that she took, seeking power of her own-probably for self protection. She would be alive.
I bit my lip and cried out. I cut around the braking car in front of me and crashed a light. If I had killed the thing I loved, I was certain that the opposite was not going to be true.