Page 10 (1/2)

Numbness blanketsterms, I’d have expected him to reach out and tell me about the death of his father I would’ve dropped everything and flown home to comfort him, no questions asked, because as hurt as I was by his actions, I still loved him

Secretly, I still do—or at least a part of me still does All I know is I think about Wyatt far more than I should, and there are moments I miss him—the him that I knew—more than I should Love is complex like that It’s as irrational and unpredictable and confusing

“Think I’ to head upstairs and unpack,” I say

“Make yourself at holad to have you back”

I find rand staircase, already covered in silvery-white cat hairs thanks to Odette’s fur children Yanking the heavy thing up the wooden steps, I wheel it to the end of the hall until I finda deep breath, I twist the knob and head inside With the first footstep I’m transported back to a siirl once lived, laughed, and loved without a care in the world

Closing the door, I take a seat in the white wicker chair in front ofup at the bulletin board littered with a sea of photographs Hoh school theater productions Dance recitals Track meets Silly selfies with friends And in the center of the wide, I’ the moon, the sun, and all the stars My ar down at leareen-blue eyes

I iaze to another woman

A thick tear slides down one

The end of this month would’ve been ten years from the date we made our pact

Rising from the chair, I unzip my suitcase and packa few items in my closet But it’s in the midst of all of this that I stuave s then, so I planned to coet it the next time

Lifting the worn fabric toroles Characters do this in fil more than research

But I’ it to smell exactly like him—the leather and the country air and sweet hay and all of those warhts at the line shack

I letit on the floor ofit the way he discarded me