Learning to Dance

still – I mean, it doesn’t change -” Taz shook her head. “Oh,
mierda.”
She looked at him now, and despite his best intentions,
he found he couldn’t look away, that her dark eyes held his
in a way that no one else’s could. She approached the hot
tub, and, without looking away from him, stepped lightly
into the water.
No, no, Taz, what are you doing? Don’t do this, not now,
not when I can’t be the man you need me to be, not when
I’ll never be that man again – you deserve better, you
deserve so much better -
Her nightgown billowed mermaid-like around her as she
crossed the space between them. She stood in front of him,
for once the taller one, closer than she’d come in weeks,
even in their dance lessons. The moonlight made her look
luminous, ethereal. He couldn’t get enough air, and his
human heart responded, hammering out a goddamned salsa
beat as she reached out and touched his face, gently, a
question in her eyes.
I can’t, Taz, I can’t -
He couldn’t help it, his hands, both hands, found her
waist through the water, through the flimsy material of her
nightgown. She closed her eyes briefly at his touch.
He wanted her more than anything.
She pressed her forehead to his, her eyes swallowing
him whole, and then she kissed him there, on his forehead,
between his eyes, the tip of his nose, then the place where
his moustache used to be, a trail of kisses so sweet he
wanted to cry.
“How can you still-” he whispered, closing his eyes.
She climbed up onto the bench and wrapped herself
around him, holding him tightly. He buried his face in her
neck and hugged her back, feeling her warmth, her
humanity, realizing what he’d been missing, remembering