Northstar Vale Mitéra

She watched his lips move, then glanced away, blinking tears out of her eyes. Towhee was a tender, exposed nerve and he’d just reached out and touched her like that. She swallowed several times and tried to regulate her breathing before looking back at him.

At the risk of sounding redundant, she croaked, thanks, ah…

She wished she could more deeply express her appreciation, not just for this sentiment but for looking after their little girl’s grave so lovingly while they were away. But this was a bad day and she only had so much bandwidth. Some other day, she would show her gratitude more appropriately.

No sorries necessary, she was able to add after a sniff.