Chapter 1, Part 5

An hour later, back in the cocoon of her car, Jeana flipped down the sun visor and checked herself out in its mirror, making sure that any evidence of Brad had been cleared away. She was about to shift the car in reverse and pull out of the parking spot, when she remembered her buzzing phone. Two messages, the blinking screen said.

“Hey, it’s me. My grandmother has to go to the hospital. Her hand is tingling or something. She says it feels like it’s burning so we’re just going to get it checked out. Wanted to let you know in case you got home and were worried that we weren’t there.”

Delete. Next.

“Hey, me again. I forgot to say something in the last message. I love you.”

Jeana snapped the phone shut and tossed it onto the passenger seat like it was toxic. She raised her head and blinked quickly, daring the accumulating tears to roll down her cheeks. Stupid Nicholas, she thought. She tore out of the parking lot, faster than was safe, but it was late and no one was around. And when she wound her way through the industrial office park and got to the intersection of the road leading towards town, she stopped at the light. To turn left would bring her to the hospital, to turn right would take her home, to an empty house.

She turned right.

And she didn’t think anything more of it until she took the back stairway up to their apartment, opened the door, and saw a beat up pair of brown Asics in a heap on the ground. Nicholas’ shoes. The ones he wore everyday. He had left with his grandmother so quickly that he hadn’t even bothered to change out of his scummy house shoes. Probably hadn’t even given it a second thought. That was when Jeana really felt like shit.