Chapter 25

Estel wished she could take back the words the instant they left her mouth, but it was too late, and she remained calm in the face of Michael's unexpected curiosity. To which she said, “Is that how you think of that room?”

She fearlessly asked him, “Is that how you think of me?”

Michael seemed oddly cautious, as if he were waiting for something to happen. What he had been anticipating for a long time. Well,” he shrugged, “there are some similarities.”

Estel snapped, “Such as what?”

Michael looked at her with closed eyes and then spoke in monotone. When asked, “Do you remember the first time we met, Estel?” her quick, disdainful response was, “How could I forget it?”

He disregarded her allusion to the later portion of the evening they'd spent together months before. “Are you aware that everything you said to me that night was a repetition of things I'd heard from my mother ever since I started writing?”

Estel looked at him incredulously, needing to deny any similarities between hi