““She needed to know more. “But that means…” “It means I love you, Violet. I have never said that aloud to another human being.” He said it quickly and tonelessly. As if he was afraid of the words. Violet stood basking in those words the way she might a sunbeam after a long, gray day. She closed her eyes. And she knew she was lit from within. “Do not let me just stand here having said those words,” he said stiffly. “It’s undignified.” “I love you, too,” she said softly, hurriedly. Feeling abashed. Eyes still closed. Egads. So this was what it was like to be in love. Awkward and foolish, indeed.””
