Page 6 of United
“Kate, wait. You don’t understand.”
“I’m fine, Chris. See you around.”
The front door latch clicked.
The sound hit him square in the chest.
After the best night of his life and feeling more vulnerable and open than ever before, she grabbed his heart, squeezed it, yanked it out of his chest, threw it on the floor, and stomped on it a few times for good measure.
Ouch.
He raked his hand through his hair, fingers catching and tugging. What the hell just happened?
He moved before the thought finished forming, bolting out the door barefoot. The early morning air was cool against his skin. He sped up from a walk to a run.
By the time he pushed through the building’s front door, she was already at the curb.
A white Camry idled. Exhaust curled into the early morning air.
“Kate.”
Her name fell flat between them.
She didn’tturn.
She slid into the back seat. The door shut with a dull, final sound.
The car pulled away.
He stepped off the curb without thinking. Bare feet met cold concrete. The chill shot straight up through his soles and into his spine. It was a small discomfort opposite the chill in his chest.
He stayed immobile as the lights from the Uber fade, as goosebumps covered bare skin, and he wondered if it’s from the early morning chill in the air or from the inside out.
The red brake lights flared at the corner.
For one suspended second he thought about running after it. Just to make her listen. Just to say the words she hadn’t let him finish.
The car turned.
The lights disappeared.
His arms hung at his sides. His mouth parted slightly as if something might still come out. Nothing did.
A heaviness settled into him, dense and immovable. The street resumed its quiet rhythm around him. A dog barked somewhere down the block. A door opened. Someone laughed.
Life went on.
He stayed until the cold climbed higher, until his toes began to ache and the pavement burned instead of numbed. He turned and went inside.
The apartment felt cavernous.
He closed the door slowly and leaned his forehead against the wood. The grain blurred before his eyes, and his breathing came uneven.
You lied.
The words echoed again.
He hadn’t lied.
