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I was anything but sweet in Hannah's absence The Libriuh the condo feeling sick

Writing was out of the question

Hannah paid special attention to our "office" furnishings,me choose the desk and transition my whole library over, but that didn't inspiredid

More often than not, I avoided the roo I actually wrote was a letter to Wendy I thanked her for her transcription services and included a check Severance pay, I called it I apologized for my hasty departure and promised to visit one day

Another loose end tied up What now? I felt like a dog waiting for his master to come home Five o'clock rolled around and I stood on the balcony watching for Hannah

Once, I got it in ht feel better being closer to her I trailed her into the agency and deposited myself on a bench in the lobby

Pam found me there, of course

"Matthew" She looked at me quizzically "Hoonderful to see you"

"Mm Hi Palanced around the e"

"Ah" Pa down the seconds until she asked about reat to see you, again" She pat-squeezedsays I view you as an invalid quite like the shoulder pat-squeeze

As if the run-in with Paroup appeared in the lobby a few hours later They wereclass

I angled an to drone

"The Granite Wing Agency is one of Denver's literary landod!" a student enthused I heard footfalls approaching A young wood Can you--? Oh roup closed in like a school of piranhas I was off the Librium by then and my Xanax was at the condo Basically I was fucked

M Pierce, M Pierce, M Pierce It was all I could hear

Little did those assholes know, my pen name had become a source of major anxiety forHannah, and it ain

"Please," Imy attention

"Leave hih the lobby I was onthe corner, my head in my hands

Hannah collided with the cluster of students and body checked the young woman into a wall She threw her aruided

After that, I rarely left the condo

Hannah was careful never to ask about es She probably assu on the coether, ends of the Fall, Wonder Boys, Good Will Hunting

We read aloud to one another

Hannah tried to teachon the kitchen floor, covered in flour

On Halloween, ent to her parents' house and handed out candy, watching the trick-or-treaters fro me in the face ("You deserved it," she said "I know," I told her)

We fucked all over the condo--in the shower, on the couch, in bed, against walls I kneasn't the sae

For one thing, silence replaced my rapacious dirty talk Hannah had to coax the words out of h with Hannah

Maybe I still felt guilty I don't know

I kept waiting for so, and thewouldsatisfy Hannah?

She didn't say a word about it, but she struggled to inspireand bustier She cleaned in a skirt, no panties, and bent over every available surface She slept naked, too Each ainst her soft skin

God, I was lucky

And fuck, I was unhappy

When Hannah left for work, she took all of my happiness with her, and the void left in me was my essential misery

I woke to an eh the rooms in a state of mild panic

"Where's Hannah?" I asked Laurence

I tried her cell It rang and rang and went to voicemail

I threw on a bathrobe and stood out on the balcony, watching the street The Noveht was deceptive I shivered and paced

I was still out there at noon, probably looking like a bu up the sidewalk She spotted hed She was carrying two bags "It's freezing!"

I shuffled inside and waited for her on the landing Hannah took the stairs two at a tih the kiss

She giggled as I tried to get her against the wall

"In!" she huffed, slipping away from me I followed her into the condo and helped her out of her coat I loos

"I called Where were you?"