Eight Years Later I No Longer Love You Chapter 05
The breeze off Lake Tahoe brushed against me softly, and there was a kind of ease to it I couldn’t put into words.
I’d only just arrived, and already I was in love with the place.
I rented a small cottage right by the lake.
Mrs. Doyle, the landlady, looked at me, and then at my suitcase, like she wanted to say something. In the end, she just nodded.
“Sweetheart, the wind picks up at night. Remember to shut your windows.”
I smiled and nodded back.
The cottage sat at the end of a narrow cobblestone lane, white clapboard walls under a gray roof. In the yard stood an old lilac tree.
At night, its branches were enough to shield half the moon.
I lined my old books along the windowsill, and set my succulent, the one I’d kept alive for three years, in the sunniest spot I could find.
That plant had been through countless all-nighters with me. Its leaves had once shriveled at the edges. But it had pulled through.
Now, in the moonlight, it looked oddly fresh.
After nightfall, I lay back in the wicker rocking chair in the yard.
All I could hear was the wind sighing through the lilac leaves.
No error pop-ups. No lamp I had to keep burning until dawn for someone.
Mrs. Doyle sent me a message.
【Willow, there’s a farmers’ market tomorrow morning. Want to come?】
I looked at that sliver of moonlight beyond the garden wall, and answered her.
【Want to.】
That night, I slept deeper than I had in years.
…
Across the country, the lights at the PAX venue burned into the small hours.
On the big screen, the shooting star meadow easter egg was being recorded by players and blowing up online.
The Steam wishlist count crossed one million.
A VC called on the spot, announced additional funding, no cap.
Adrian was surrounded, glass after glass being raised in his direction, his face bright with celebration.
He looked at Sophie and smiled.
“You did good this time.”
Sophie took a small sip.
“It’s all thanks to you leading the way, Adrian.”
The people around them kept up the teasing. A hum of noise on all sides.
Adrian set his glass down and tapped his phone awake.
Nothing new on the screen.
He frowned, and quickly locked it again.
Sophie caught it, her fingers grazing the little silver fox pendant.
“Adrian, maybe you should head back and smooth things over with Willow after all.”
At that, Adrian’s expression relaxed.
“She’s fine. I’ve spoiled her, that’s all.”
The after-party broke up late in the night.
Adrian came home carrying the smell of alcohol, and the chirp of the smart lock echoed through the empty hallway.
He stood in the entryway, and his first reaction was irritation.
“Willow?”
No answer.
The spot under the shoe cabinet where her slippers usually sat was empty. The little entryway lamp that always stayed on for him, no matter how late, was dark.
The whole apartment felt foreign in its blackness.
He fished out his phone to ask her where she’d gone, but the message thread was still frozen on that line from two days ago.
【Handle it yourself.】
Adrian stared at the screen, typed and deleted, typed and deleted, and finally hit call.
【Sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service.】
The robotic voice came through the receiver.
His face changed. The alcohol drained out of him.
He rushed into the bedroom, yanked open drawers, threw open closets.
Lifted the storage bins under the bed.
Finally rushed into the bathroom.
Her toothbrush was gone. Her old books were gone from the shelf.
Even the succulent on the balcony had disappeared.
There wasn’t a trace of her left in the apartment. It was clean, as if she’d never been there at all.
At the end of it, he saw three things sitting on the entryway console.
The house keys.
The silver promise ring.
The +1 GUEST lanyard.
Arranged in a perfectly straight row.
No note.
No accusation.
Not a word of goodbye.
Adrian sank into the couch, his head heavy and, at the same time, terribly clear.
He wanted to know where she’d gone. He wanted to dig up any lead that could reach her.
He wanted to understand how she had walked out so cleanly.
But for the first time, he realized. Eight years together.
And he didn’t even know where to start looking.
—