Riley held his gaze.
“You.”
Silence.
Daniel’s expression changed slowly.
She swallowed.
“That was more vulnerable than I planned.”
“I've been thinking too.”
“Dangerous.”
He smiled.
“About what I want.”
“Sophie.”
“Lauren.”
“What's right.”
Riley waited.
Daniel said one word.
“You.”
Her breath caught.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
No elaborate speech.
Very Daniel.
Riley set coffee down.
He did too.
Then he kissed her beside kitchen window while snow fell beyond mountains.
No uncertainty in it.
They did not pretend casual again.
Love did not immediately solve class difference.
That would have been dishonest.
Daniel hated the first time Riley sent a driver to pick him up.
“I have truck.”
“You were coming to Denver after work.”
“Yes.”
“You'd arrive exhausted.”
“I can drive.”
“That's not point.”
“What is?”
“I wanted to make it easier.”
Daniel frowned.
“Sometimes easier feels like you deciding my way isn't good enough.”
Riley stopped.
That was useful.
Painful.
Useful.
“Okay.”
She canceled driver.
Another time Daniel refused an expensive jacket Riley bought.
“It’s a coat.”
“It costs more than my snowblower.”
“You need a new coat.”
“I have coat.”
“That coat is older than Sophie.”
“It works.”
Riley nearly argued.
Then laughed.
“I hate your principles.”
“Likewise.”
They returned jacket.
Three weeks later Riley bought him thermal socks.
He accepted.
Progress.
Daniel had his own blind spots.
When Riley worked late, he sometimes interpreted it as choosing business over them.
Once, after she canceled dinner because a client crisis hit, he went silent.
Riley recognized immediately.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Do not use my word.”
He sighed.
“Just thought you were staying.”
“I was.”
“Then?”
“Three hundred stores may lose payroll data if system fails.”
He nodded.
“Right.”
“But?”
Daniel looked toward Sophie doing homework.
“You said you've changed.”
Riley’s expression sharpened.
“I changed how I work.”
“I did not become irresponsible.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He stopped.
She continued.
“You cannot ask me to become smaller to prove I love you.”
Daniel looked stung.
“I’m not.”
“You almost are.”
Silence.
Later, after Sophie slept, he apologized.
“I don't understand your work.”
“You don't need to.”
“I need to understand what it costs you.”
Riley sat beside him.
“And I need to understand when work is a real emergency and when I’m hiding inside it.”
Daniel looked toward her.
“Was tonight real?”
“Yes.”
“Then I was wrong.”
She kissed his cheek.
“Thank you.”
“What about next time?”
“I tell you more clearly.”
“Good.”