(Author's note: Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad the story is capturing your interest, and I appreciate the encouragement.)
Interlude in A Minor, Part 1
"Wh…?" He couldn't form rest of the word. It could have been 'why,' or 'what,' or 'when.' But really it was all of them, and more. It had been three years since he'd seen her.
Three years since she'd stood in a black dress, eyes red from crying, hair twisted back in an elegant knot, lips trembling and slightly chapped as she kissed Ephram so hard and so desperately behind Nina's house the night of the funeral. Andy Brown had wanted to be cremated, his ashes spread partly over Julia's grave back in New York, the other half carried on the wind outside of Everwood. In the back of Ephram's mind had been the half-filled urn packed into his suitcase in the bedroom of the house next door. His house. To do with what he wished. The 21-year-old heir to the Brown name. Until Delia came of age and could take her half. Her burden.
For all the passion, Amy's kisses had tasted like ash. She'd cried when his lips hadn't moved against hers. He'd left for New York the next morning.
And now she was on his doorstep. Three years older. The pain still there.
"Wh…?"
"I needed to see you," Amy whispered, with a fleeting glance to meet his eyes. Her hair was loose, shorter and tangled from the wind. She was wrapped in a dark wool coat with a pink scarf wound around her neck so that one long side hung down to her thigh. She looked cold.
She smelled warm.
She stepped forward at the same moment Ephram moved to take her arm and lead her in. His hand at her elbow, hers involuntarily moving toward his waist. They were close enough to embrace but neither moved. Instead they stood quite still in the frigid December night, their breath circling them in white puffs that caught the wind and rushed away down the street. His heart clenched and beat so hard he felt sick.
"Maybe I shouldn't have…" Amy faltered, their closeness after so long disorienting her. But before she could turn, Ephram slid his hand around to her back and pressed, just enough to keep her from moving, but not enough to pull her to him.
"Please…" he whispered and let it hang for a moment. "Come in."
