Love and Regret in the Summer Heat

Outside, the sun kept punishing the pavement. Inside, the air between us thickened with something unsaid.

Christmas came with such heat, not snow. In Brisbane, the sun cooked asphalt while plastic Santas melted in window displays. Shoppers fought for car parks like it was bloodsport. Meanwhile, I stood dripping in man-sweat, clutching a wrapped gift at Nina’s door.

She didn’t answer immediately.

I held the knob tight. Not sure why. Maybe for support. Maybe reassurance. On the other side, I heard her voice. “It’s about time. I didn’t think you were coming. The storm ended hours ago…”

She hesitated. “That is you, right?”

My silence must’ve unnerved her. I wasn’t even sure myself.

Who was I now?

I remembered the drive, vaguely—the storm forcing me under a bridge, rain swallowing the world. I remembered the heat, the delay. But something had shifted during that wait. When I finally stood at her door, I wasn’t sure what I had brought with me—lust, love, regret… or something else entirely.

“Why were you holding the doorknob?” she asked later.

“I… I don’t know.”

If I’d been delayed and eager, I should’ve charged in. But instead, I waited, hand frozen on the brass.

It wasn’t hesitation.

It was transformation.

Outside, the sun kept punishing the pavement. Inside, the air between us thickened with something unsaid—some understanding that everything was different now.

I hadn’t come just to give. I’d come to take.

[from SEETHINGS, downloadable and free for a limited time].