things left uncorrected

Nothing is argued or resolved yet something remains.

It happens towards the end of the evening, when they are both a bit tired and the conversation has begun to loosen.

She is telling him about something that happened earlier in the day, someone she spoke to, something that was said, and he listens in the way he always does, with enough attention to follow it but not so much that he interrupts its natural course. The kitchen is warmer than it should be. The heat has held from cooking and has nowhere to go; the window above the sink faintly misted at the corners.

The clock on the wall ticks, steady and unobtrusive.