ia's

building that looked like it was h

elonging to a life I didn't recognize as mine. Rain from earlier still pudd

eginning. I couldn't

People rushed past-couples laughing, business people on phones, teenagers w

enthouse had made me forg

Harper's name flash

could speak. "I'm three blocks away with enough takeout to feed a small

yet," I admitted

ed from fierce to gentle in a he

e building entrance, then at my suitcase contain

pression, four years of survival mode before Daniel appeared like a miracle. I'd been drowning, and he'd been

out, arms loaded with bags, her pixie-cut hair slight

me. "We don't stand outside crying. We go inside, eat o

t my cheeks were wet,

et down her bags and pulled me into

to my hair. "A stupid, emotionally s

t hurt this much

inely loved him. And that's not a we

the other. "Come on. Let's see this place. Maybe it's got character. The c

was worse than

e size of a closet. A window that looked directly into another window ten feet away.

"It's definitely... cozy. Very... minimalist. Like, extremely mi

ything, I al

he couldn't decide which cuisine would fix a broken heart so she'd brought them a

ton that I suspected doubled as the bed. "E

futon groan

, probably cost more than a week's groceries. "To

s mechanically b

y, staring at the wine. "That the marriage was

u belie

the papers

you believed him. That means you loved him

looked up.

n't have proper plates yet. The absurdity wasn't lost on either of us-three years ago, I'd bee

now?" Harper a

gone. "Find a job, I guess. Figure out how to be

re section. Who made me laugh until I cried over terrible reality TV. Who had opinions and dreams

. "That woman feels

d over, squeezing my hand. "One day at

errible dating app profile she'd encountered. At some point, we attempted to

were in college," Harper muttered, w

ng was ea

bed, snoring softly. I sat by the window, watching the cit

ight up with his name. I told myself I didn't care if he was awake, wonder

c and desperate. I grabbed it, pulse racing "Financial docu

m. His

t cold. Every asset split, every belonging accounted for, eve

ntified three years of love in do

n of the new address for future correspondence." Cl

ressed my forehead against the cool window

Daniel was probably already asleep. Or working. Or whatever he

, who'd lost my father, my dreams, and now my marriage-fina