Carol wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. She knew him well enough to know he wouldn't open it, and even if he did it was probably filled with nothing but air. However, something he said stuck with her. I am who I am now. A simple, but true statement she could relate to. She was a different person than the woman in the photos she'd been looking at. The past was the past.
Her eyes lingered back on her box. "So, you think that locking away vulnerability trick still works? Because I might find a use for it."
She didn't mean it, but it was tempting. Carol actually cracked a smile. "I've been clinging to Maria for so long. Decades. It makes it hard to open up, you know?" There was another lingering pause.
"The thing is, looking at those photos made me realize I need to move on. And maybe that I've already started to. I mean, you and me and whatever this is becoming" Carol was fighting the urge to make a quip or shut it down, trying her best to be open.
"That is if you're open it to actually becoming more than friends with benefits." There it was. His chance to say no. Why had she thought this was a good idea to do this sober?