Wanted it more than anything. That’s why I was going to force it; tonight, by my own hand.Then, would you like to change the lives of those you hold...dear?I hadn’t expected another message.The faces of the two women I lived with—my aunt and my younger sister—surfaced momentarily from the depths of my selfishness, but I closed my eyes to them.Aunt Riley was getting by just fine without my help, and Jessie—You’re running away from it.—was better off without a useless brother like me. I selected. The smile could be because her little sister would experience these feelings next.Susan's head languorously turned towards the wonderful man that was holding her. She just looked at him for a moment before answering. She wanted to memorize his face so that she would never forget it. Susan wanted to remember the laugh lines at the corners of his mouth. The crinkles at the corners of his eyes that got deeper when he smiled seemed important. The expressive, kind blue eyes seemed like a bottomless. It’s been so long since I’ve been on my own...” and then she just stopped talking as she choked-up and her eyes started to water.Roger continued to look at her for a few seconds and quietly said, “I understand how difficult it can be. I lost my wife just over a year ago, and I still have rough days.” He paused to collect himself as he fought back tears. “How are you holding up?”Roger noticed another person in his peripheral vision. He looked over and saw a woman close to his age with chestnut. Fingers on skin, caring nothing for the airport video scanners or occasional passengers passing. The danger of being seen making us hotter and me harder. How we managed to get through passports, retrieve bags, and exit customs with clothes intact is something I wonder. Somehow we had touched each other fleetingly everywhere, hands probing briefly, fleetingly in every place. As we sat in the taxi to a randomly chosen hotel I could smell her wetness on my fingers from the moment just before.