He stopped her, looking her with an almost begging expression. It was a puppy dog gaze, and Esther was verging on defenseless.
He almost did not say it, but it finally came out in a quiet tone just above a whisper, “Esther, what if we didn’t say goodnight?”
“Archibald,” she sighed, knowing well what he meant.
She stepped closer to him, letting his hands rest in the curves of her waist. Esther enjoyed the touch, but decorum and practical thoughts inside her brain yelled at her to push back.
“I do not want you to do anything that you do not want, but I can’t help but feel like you’ve been wanting this too.”
Esther could not deny it. Part of her longed for an opportunity like this where she could be desired and consumed by the first person who ever held her heart. The look in his eyes now told her that he had never let it go. Part of Esther’s soul had always stayed with him, and Archie knew it.
“You’re not wrong…” She trailed off, letting her eyes close as his hot breath grew closer and closer to her neck.
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Letting her back face him, Esther refused his advances with her quick excuses, “My father is here. My daughter is here. How would this even work?”
“We can run away,” Archie half-joked. “I have empty apartments all over this city. Your place is empty. I would fly you away somewhere, but I don’t think it would be safe in the storm.”
“Archibald,” Esther said softly. “We’re not teenagers anymore. You can’t whisk me away and tuck me safely some beautiful place.”
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“I could not really then, could I?” He chuckled half-heartedly. “How many times can a guy be shot down before he gives up? I mean, can you even blame me for not wanting for this to end?”
She smiled as her heart twisted and wrenched. Archie’s pain covered his face and went deep into his eyes, but Esther believed he liked having her painfully rather than not at all. Unable to refuse him entirely, Esther held his face in her hands, and looking up at him she gave him the briefest of kisses. Their lips barely brushed, but she could bear no more than that faint touch.
Trying her best not to give into the moment nor cry at the heartbreak before her, she whispered simply, “I hope you won’t give up on me just yet.”
She left the conversation and the room with that last simple declaration. Esther’s heart raced as the elevator climbed upward as she hurried to her room and locked the door. She could not bear to let anyone in, and the lock would hopefully keep her in as well. She took a cool and quick shower before finally sitting down in her pajamas in the plush chair by the window where the snow distracted her.
The road below was becoming a clean white slate as the leafless trees began to collect the downy white flakes as well. It would be only a matter of time before the city teams sullied the pristine image as they would work to clear the roads for business as usual. For now though, Esther could dream there wrapped up in a soft blanket, and in the large soft chair she fell asleep watching the world turn into something magical and new.