er journal. She had arrived early, unwilling to risk being late for her first official mentoring session

esturing toward the partially

ding glasses perched low on his nose, flipping through the pages of her rev

uring to the chair oppo

r chest like a shield. "I wasn't sur

ing the pages down. "And this-this is closer. You're starting to str

working on it, unsure if she'd gone too far or not far enough. S

lent. Natural intuition. But you hold back. You e

l. "I think I've done

"Writing demands we don't

and a pen. "Write a scene. Any

blinked

ow

t the timer on her pho

inst the paper. Nathaniel didn't speak. He watched her, occasionally

pulse was erratic. She hadn't thought, just

her gently. He read it once, t

"Still a little g

ut from the acknowledgment. Nathaniel was stern, yes, but he saw her. Not

coffee?" he a

ur

too expensive-looking for someone like Juliet. She hovered awkwardly

ep?" he asked, h

in doesn't shut

"That's a wri

while, they talked about literature-shared favori

d to be a writer?

my dad never took it seriously. Said it wasn't

That kind of judgment sticks

at about you? Did your fa

She was the only one who understood why I n

est ached.

daughter-was young when it happened. I think she resen

" Juliet said gently. "And bein

n unspoken understanding. A quiet tethe

weekly meetings to a small café nearby. "It's more re

é that smelled of roasted beans and worn books. Nathaniel was already there, hi

miled slightly.

are

he chair across

ugh tall windows. Nathaniel's feedback was honest but never cruel. He challenged h

a prompt that startled her: D

the paper. "You d

here to pl

romance, but the day she realized she would never earn

furrowed. When he looked up, there w

ping the page, "is t

tions about life. Nathaniel told her about Emma's love of painting.

ard the subway, their arms brus

personal?" Juliet asked, her voi

long moment. "I think honesty i

gain, tinged with a warmth Jul

haniel had scribbled in the margins of her pages. Underlined phrase

was one comment, simple

t honest sentenc

and over, heart f