In clear, concise words scrawled across the page.

“A fool is within me.”

…

Emma comes home a few months later. After many ignored phone calls, texts, and emails, there’s no sign of Vince anywhere. All that’s left is a made bed and his shelves of books. Emma goes downstairs to ask the door attendants if they’ve seen Vince, and they look at each other before handing her a letter. They ask how her travel and everything’s going and say they’re happy to see her back. Emma grabs the letter and heads down to the corner café. The barista asks if she wants a heavenly vanilla sweet latté and an americano. She asks if Vince has been around, and he says he thought they were traveling together this time. Emma shakes her head and says, “No on the americano, but can I get a croissant?” he says, “of course, on the house, welcome back.” Emma goes to what would have been their usual table and opens the letter after taking a bite of the flakey, buttery croissant. The letter reads: 

    Dear Emma,
For many reasons, we have found living apart more accessible over the past few years. This does not mean that every word I have ever spoken to you wasn’t honest, because it is, and I will feel every word down to my core forever. Somewhere along the way, I had “I do” engrained in my brain. It’s okay that you didn’t. We’ve been doing our things and living so well that I think it’s time for us to go our separate ways. The rent has been paid for the year, don’t worry about that. Scotch is with Leila. She said you could pick him up whenever, and if not, just let her know, please. All our things are in the closet in the box labeled 2/22/19-2/22/22. I thought that would be easier, and my new email is vince.emerald@email.com if you need anything. 
                          Sincerely, Vincen

Emma gets up, throws away what’s left of the croissant, and takes her latté. She calls Leila as soon as she steps outside, 

“Hey, Emma! How are you?” 

“Hey Leila, I’m okay; how’s Scotch?” 

Leila questions, “I thought you guys had him? Vince picked him up for the weekend on Thursday. Are you okay?” 

Emma quickly asks, “Do you know where Vince is staying? We haven’t talked in a couple of months, and he told me to call you to get Scotch when I come home.” 

With concern, Leila responds, “I see. Well, if he’s not at your place, maybe his parents or, I mean, Ryan and Ellie are having a baby shower this weekend, maybe there.” Emma thanks her and proceeds to call Ellie. 

“Oh my gosh! Emma, how are you? This is crazy; we were just talking about you! Vince was saying how great you’re doing in London these days!” Emma looks at the phone and says,

“Yeah, things are all right. Congratulations, Ellie. I’m so happy for you two. I think Vince missed my call. Could you please pass the phone on?”

Ellie says, “Yes, of course! I know we always said we would do these things together, but life is funny, isn’t it!” there’s a pause, and then Emma hears a familiar voice.

     “Ryan, I said I didn’t care which beer,” Emma cuts off Vince mid-sentence. 

“Vince, it’s Emma. Look, I’m sorry, and I don’t know what else I can do to show that.”

Vince responds, “There’s nothing you can do to show it. I’ll drop Scotch off when I’m done over here.” 

Emma sighs, “Okay, see you then.” When Emma returns to the apartment, she strips the sheets off the bed and empties her suitcase to do laundry. Emma’s phone rings, 

“Hey, it’s Cleo. How are you doing, my love?” Emma smiles and says, “I’m good. What about you, Cleo?”

“Good, good, I am in New York. I missed you! The whole day without you!” 

Emma paused and said, “Cleo, I said we couldn’t do this. You know I have Vince, and we work as co-writers, nothing more.” 

Cleo stalls for a moment, 

“Clever you say that, darling. I have a few ideas for our next project, and I think the tales of New York will help it transpire. I made reservations at Blue Velvet tonight at 7. I think new pages would be good for you.”

Emma hesitates, “Well, I have to check with Vince. I’ll let you know.” 

Cleo scoffs, “All right then, tell Vince I send my love; there’s enough love for everyone.” Emma hangs up and utters, “he already knows,” under her breath. She goes back upstairs, sweeps, mops, and then dusts around the apartment. She picked up a picture frame that was face down. It’s a picture of Vince and her on his birthday. She remembers how badly he wanted her to blow out the candles with her and how it ended up being her favorite picture. She thinks about how she missed his last two birthdays and calls Everything Blooms to see if she can pick up his favorite German Chocolate cake. It’s always aesthetically pleasing from there. She naps on the sofa, puts away her laundry, and then makes the bed. Since she still hasn’t heard from Vince, she leaves a note saying she’ll return soon. On her way to the bakery, she stops at a market and grabs lilies and carnations because they always had lilies in the apartment. She holds a pack of white candles and a book of matches. With the idea of Vince walking in surprised and happy to see she made dinner, she hopes he stays to enjoy the cake and blow out the candles. She gets to the apartment, starts boiling water, and pulls out chicken breasts to slice up. The chicken parmesan was a simple but tasty staple they often had.

As Emma sets the table and places both plates down, she hears a knock on the door. She then hears Scotch whimpering; she excitedly opens the door to find Scotch sitting by a vase of lilies. Scotch practically tackles her down as any Great Dane would. Emma looks out the hallway to see if Vince is out there, but he’s not. She immediately calls downstairs, telling Benny to stop Vince and that he forgot something. She rushes down the stairwell because she knows she can beat the elevator. Just as she runs through the lobby, she sees Vince talking to Benny. Vince looks up and quickly turns to walk outside. 

Emma yells, “Vince! Please! I can’t do this without you!” Vince swiftly turns around to face her.

     “You’ve done the last ten months without me, you stopped speaking to me first, and I am the one that walked in on you and Cleo! Not you! And I hear he proposed? And Ellie can’t believe how well we’re doing with that! Because there is no us to be affected by all this, Em!” Benny interrupts,

“I think you two should take this upstairs. The whole lobby is watching you two.” He gestures to the elevator. As the elevator doors close, Emma sees Cleo in the lobby walking out. When they enter the apartment, Vince says he must go to the bathroom and storms off. When Vince comes out, he says with a huff,

“So, you’re probably here for a few weeks, and what? You want to act like you never left for that time, and then we go our separate ways happily?” Emma pulls out a chair for him to sit on, 

“I said I wanted to fix it. You know that letter wasn’t true. You weren’t the only one here forever.”

“Fine, my flight was canceled anyways,” Vince responds, 

“There’s wine if you still drink that. I’ll have to get my luggage from Ellie’s.” 

Emma sets down a glass of scotch for Vince and says, 

“I brought some of your clothes. We can get your luggage tomorrow. Cheers to this.” As Emma holds out her glass.

Vince pushes the glass away, “I don’t drink anymore. Thank you for dinner.” He says, looking at his phone. 

Emma feeds Scotch, then pulls the cake out of the fridge and puts the candles in. Vince changes into pajamas and finds the flowers Emma got for him and the picture of them. Emma turns the kitchen lights off as Vince walks back into the living room. Emma starts singing happy birthday, and Vince blows out the candles, this time alone. 

“Do you want me to sleep on the sofa tonight?” asks Vince. 

Emma runs her hand through her hair,

“I didn’t think sleeping in bed together was a problem, but whatever you’re comfortable with. I’m going to shower,” says Emma. 

Emma decides to bathe while checking her emails and reading a bit. She gets dressed and finds Vince in bed when she gets out of the bath. She walks past and goes to the sofa, then sees Scotch lying across it and sits on the corner. Vince comes out and tells her that the bed is okay, and he put Scotch there because of that. When they get in bed, Vince automatically wraps his arms around her. Emma turns and says,

“I am sorry. I can’t say why I did it, I made a mistake, and it was stupid, and I must live with that. I appreciate you, and I don’t deserve you, but I love you.”  Vince gets closer to Emma and softly says, 

“It’s okay. Go to sleep.”

To Be Continued…