Chapter Twenty-Six

Two days later I woke before dawn. It was my day off, so I didn't need to be awake, yet I couldn't go back to sleep. I itched to get up and move. My brain was too full and my heart too tender to sit in bed and think.

I put on my favorite black exercise pants and a soft sweatshirt. Outside, the dark air frosted with every breath and ice hung on the tree branches and buildings as I walked to Central Park. It was quiet in the early gray morning. There were only a few runners pounding the pavement, but they kept to themselves, huffing and puffing like dragons in the gray light.

It was as close to being alone in the city as I could get.

A layer of snow glistened and glimmered on the grass. No one had disturbed it yet, so it was still perfect and white. For a moment, I could imagine that there were no other people in the entire world. It was just me and the cold.

I wished the cold could freeze my hope. I wished that it could freeze the ache inside of me every time I thought about him. I cou