Chapter 28: A Nice Time

The air crackled with unspoken words as Beth stood at her doorstep, her goodbye to Louis hanging heavy in the air. He'd showed up unexpectedly at her apartment expecting to have dinner with her. "I thought we agreed that you were going to give me time and most importantly space?" Beth asked Louis narrowing her eyes pointedly. "Yes, I know. But I just wanted to.." he trails off, not knowing how to complete his statement. "You wanted to what?" Beth asked rather impatiently. "I missed you and I wanted to see you," he stated eventually sounding very shy. This made Beth laugh, she had never seen a shy Louis. He'd surprised her with flowers, a hopeful smile on his face, but she'd turned him down," thank you for the flowers, Louis. But the agreement was that you'd give me time, yeah? She paused and then said almost in a whisper,"I don't think I'm ready yet," the ghost of her guilt over Michael clinging to her like a shroud. Yet, something had shifted. The Louis she saw wasn't the