*Summer*
Neither of us say a word until we are well on our way. I no longer find fault with the swaying of the truck, the way it jostles and makes me brush up against him. Although not as much distance separates us now as it had when we had first met. Now my hip and thigh rests against his.
“I was beginning to think you weren't coming this year”. He always speaks calmly, quietly, without irritation, as though I am one of the horses he needs to calm.
“My mother and I went to Pearl city first, so I could have some proper gowns made for my first Season. Pearl city is in our neighbor country, across the Channel”.
“I know where Pearl city is”. His tone is curt, so unlike him.
“I meant no insult. I forget how much you know”. He had told me once that he and his siblings have a membership in
