A Whole New Paige

Tommaso

I glanced at Paige out of the corner of my eye, singing along to some rock song I’d never heard before. She seemed different; she had since she’d answered my question in my office. There was a lightness to her now. She barely stopped touching me, and she never stopped smiling. I couldn’t deny that I liked it. Her cheeks still had a little hollowness to them, and I knew from last night that she still wasn’t totally physically healed from her encounter with Zahur, but she seemed so much better. Like a woman I might meet in the real world and fall in love with, not one I pulled out of the worst depths of human filth.

Still, I kept glancing at her like this, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like at any moment, she’d realize what she’d done and be afraid of me again.

“Good therapy session?” I asked as the song ended, not really expecting anything.

“The best,” she said.

“Great.” I smiled at her. “That sounds good.”

“It totally was.” She grinned at me, her hair bouncing as she bob