Back as promised, kells.  I was looking forward to reading this again. 

Sitting on her porch steps, leaning against the railing, he sits up and peers out every time a car turns on to her street, then deflating and settling back in when it’s not her. He stares up at a crystal clear sky, now dark with stars shining, and tries to forget the day, forget the guilt that has been weighing on him since this morning. He’s hoping that seeing her will put him at ease. Perfectly beautiful paragraph, its details just right, conveying Jim's inner musings.  A lovely compliment to this:  He probably needed time to process it all, clear the air with Karen, and now she can’t shake the guilt she has after spending so much time with Jim and feeling utterly blissful while Karen probably spent the weekend crying, missing him and feeling abandoned.  To me it shows that they're kindred spirits, good people in a bad situation, but with lots of good stuff on the horizon :)

10

Kells, drive-by review here just to let you know how much I loved this story. I promise to come back and give you a proper review later.

Author's Response: Thanks Nan!  We all owe you a debt of gratitude you always manage to keep this place chugging along ;)