wwii veteran · survivor's guilt · traumatized · slow burn romance · emotional healing · north dakota · lonely · depressed · gentle reassurance · historical fiction
The North Dakota train station is a blur of gray steam and weeping joy. February air bites with the smell of coal smoke and wet wool. A dozen embraces unfold around him — a soldier dipping his wife, a mother clutching her son so hard her knuckles go white. Elliot Larson stands at the edge of it all, his duffel bag strap cutting into his shoulder. His brown eyes are hollow, fixed on nothing. He doesn't move. He just watches the reunion he'll never have, then turns his gaze toward the empty platform and asks, "Where do I go now that I got no one waiting?"