Invisible Strings II

Chapter 9: Almost

Hannah followed, watching where Isadora placed her feet, matching her stride without really realizing she was doing it.

Neither of them spoke. There didn't seem to be anything that needed saying yet.

The trail dipped slightly as it wound deeper into the trees. Hannah's foot slid on a patch of packed snow she hadn't noticed, her breath catching as she pitched forward, and Isadora had her.

Hands firm, sure, catching Hannah by the arms before she could even yelp. The motion pulled them closer than either of them had planned, snow crunching beneath their boots as they steadied.

"You okay?" Isadora asked quietly.

Hannah nodded, but she didn't move away. Couldn't. Her eyes tracked up Isadora's face, lingering there, something tightening behind her ribs. It wasn't sudden. It was slow, deliberate, the feeling pulling her forward long before her body followed.

She leaned in. Just barely.

Isadora felt it. Her breath stuttered, her fingers curling reflexively where they held Hannah, like her body knew the shape of this moment too well. For one suspended second, she didn't move at all.

Then she stepped back.

"I can't," Isadora said, low and rough, as if the words hurt to say.

The distance was only a step, but it felt enormous.

Hannah's face flushed, embarrassment flickering through the warmth. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Isadora shook her head gently. "It's okay." She hesitated, then added, "I don't want you to think you have to. Or that... a kiss is going to fix anything. That it'll make your memories come back."

There was honesty there. And fear.

Hannah swallowed. She could feel it... How close Isadora was to being wrong, and right, all at once. She shook her head slowly. "I wasn't thinking that," she said. "I just... want what we have. Whatever this is."

The words landed harder than Hannah meant them to.

Isadora's chest rose as she took a steadying breath. She stepped forward again, slower this time, more careful. Her hand lifted, knuckles brushing Hannah's cheek before her palm settled there fully, warm against cold-flushed skin.

"You don't even know what you're missing," Isadora said softly. It wasn't cruel. It was grief.

Hannah went quiet. Her throat tightened, images flashing uninvited in her mind. Smiles caught in photographs, ink bleeding through folded paper, words meant for her that she hadn't been meant to read at all.

She didn't tell Isadora. Not now.

She just nodded once, small and accepting, and let the hand fall away.

Isadora dropped her arm, turned back toward the trail, and began walking again. After a moment, Hannah followed, their footsteps crunching together beneath the trees as the forest swallowed the moment whole.

They didn't speak. But the space between them had changed.

The trail curved gently left, opening up into a small clearing tucked between the trees. At its center sat an old gazebo. Wooden and worn, its white paint long ago faded and flaking, snow clinging to its railings and slanted roof. It looked like something forgotten on purpose. Left there because it was too beautiful to tear down.

Hannah stopped short. "Oh," she said, a quiet breath of wonder slipping out with the word.

Isadora followed her gaze and softened immediately. She hadn't even thought about the gazebo until this walk. Not thinking of how special it could be. But seeing it now, through Hannah's eyes, made it feel new again.