Infinitely Close

The well-dressed sales clerk froze behind the glass counter. Her polite, professional smile fractured into an awkward grimace of pity. Clara felt a deep, humiliated crimson burn across her cheeks. The heat radiated down her neck and pooled in her chest. She dropped her gaze to the plush carpet, wishing the marble floor would simply swallow her whole.

Dante remained oblivious to the stifling tensi