The Impossible Distance

Tom Marlowe has spent thirty-two years frozen in the aftermath of abandonment, painting the same Welsh beach obsessively, convincing himself that solitude is safety. Lauren has spent two years on the Maine coast learning to trust her own perceptions after someone taught her not to, reclaiming the music that was once made to feel like imposition.

Neither is looking for connection. Both have chosen careful distance over dangerous proximity.

Then one September evening, Tom sees a woman standing ...