She was walking through the clothing store when she suddenly stopped, fingering a flowery skirt and contemplating her life.

Their friendship had been doomed from the start, she realized, because she had never wanted to be just his friend – or even just his girlfriend or just his wife. She wanted to be someone else, someone more, someone above all that.

Like his sun.

The light, the shining center of his sky.

And yeah, the clouds could hide the sun but everyone needed some shade from time to time. And sometimes, when the clouds were just thin enough, you could look directly at the sun and see its shape, its bones. You could see what it really looked like – a perfect circle, dark but outlined in a brilliant glittering blue.

With her luck, he probably lived at night.