She reaches out to him cautiously, fingers not quite touching the fabric of his shirt.

She slides her other hand underneath her camisole, drawing out a long, silver chain.

“This is going to be our secret spot. No one else can know about it but us,” he told her, her fingers entangled with his. “You can’t tell anyone.”

She had just nodded, her eyes bright with the adventure of it.

He pulled the brand new padlock from his pocket, still in its plastic wrappings from the hardware store. “Here,” he said, handing it to her. She shelled off the wrapping and stared at it, then smiled.

She kept her hand curled tightly around the pendent on the chain, letting it dig into her palm, and watched him.

They had fastened the lock onto the door of the room. “There,” he said. “Now it’s ours.”

He gave her the key, pressing it into her hand.

“Don’t lose it.”

“Never.”

Slowly, she unclasps her hand from around the key, letting it fall free. “I still have it,” she whispers.