Flushedness

Outside the hotel it was still raining its drizzle of snow, but it was beginning to slack off a little. He stood under the marquee a few moments, breathing the cold wet air. It felt good on the flushedness of his face.

“I want to call you Bobby.” / Softly felt his brain racing toward some chemical event of a highly suspect nature. He sipped his tea. Pulse rate. Blink rate. Degree of nausea. Sweatiness of palms. Flushedness of face.

Finally, I’d remark that I certainly would find her jumping unpredictable, that I truly doubted that she had tried it in years, and that I’d like very much to see her be her dog and jump up and down until she was out of breath. […] If I could convince her, I think she might jump up and down till she was breathless, till her face was flushed and her body was loose and unarmored. I think she might like the breathlessness, the flushedness, the looseness.