They sat on the sand looking at the sunset. His arms wrapped around her felt warm. His feet stretched out beyond the reach of her stubby legs, bare and free to feel the breeze that balanced the gulls swooping for fish.

The silence had been comfortable and as beautiful as the sunset. As the first stars blinked into view, their thoughts left the comfortable companionship and went with the night and all the dark secrets she held in the folds of her mantle.

“This has been the best day,” she hedged.

“It doesn’t have to end here,” he hinted.

She sighed, but knew that he was wrong. Her heart ached as she felt his arms tighten on her and his chest press into her back. She felt his whispered words as much as heard them. “What do you have to lose?”

She knew he was thinking that finally, there was nothing to regret, no walls between them, but she knew there was something to lose.

“Your friendship.” She stood out of his embrace.