Read Chapter 28: — OUTSIDE THE DOOR

When movement restrictions finally eased, Adrian took Lena to Toronto.

Not for romance.

Not at first.

They went to the university housing complex where they had met in 2003.

The building had been renovated. The old corridor carpet was gone. Doors had electronic locks. The apartment that once belonged to Martin had become faculty housing for someone else.

They stood outside the unit where Adrian had lived.

“This is disappointing,” he said.

“What did you expect?”

“A plaque.”

For Services to Adolescent Emotional Stability During SARS, Lena thought.

She laughed.

They sat on the stairs.

“You never opened the door,” Adrian said.

“I was following quarantine rules.”

“You looked through the peephole.”

“You knew?”

“I could hear you bumping into the door.”

She covered her face.

“Seventeen years of dignity destroyed.”

He took her hand.

This time she let him.

“I spent a long time thinking we had some grand tragic love,” he said. “Maybe that was another way of avoiding the truth.”

“What truth?”

“We were young. We loved each other. We were bad at fear.”

Lena leaned against his shoulder.

“And now?”

“We’re older. We love each other. We’re probably still bad at fear.”

“Encouraging.”

“But maybe we can be honest before we run.”

She looked at him.

“I can do that.”

“So can I.”

Then he kissed her on the same staircase where, years earlier, a closed door had been the safest way to be close.