Chapter 3

Marcus left on a Tuesday.

A work emergency — a client in another city, a contract that needed him there in person, three days maximum he said, kissing her forehead at the door with his suitcase already in the car. He said he was sorry about the timing. She said it was fine. He said he'd be back Friday. She said she'd be here.

The door closed.

She stood in the hallway of the apartment they had been sharing for four months and listened to his car pull away and then the street going quiet and then nothing.

She was fine.

She made tea she didn't drink and...