“I’m glad that you can think this way. I really want you and Zoe to get along.”
Before I could respond, the doorbell rang. It was the courier I had scheduled.
Vincent finally noticed the piles of boxes I’d packed and stacked neatly in the living room.
His expression darkened as he walked over to inspect them.
“Claire, what do you mean?” he demanded, his voice tight. “You don’t want all the things I gave you?”
I was just about to open my mouth to reply when he reached into one of the boxes and pulled out a small music box. Inside was a spinning figurine of a bride in a white wedding dress.
His hand trembled slightly as he held it up and I noticed his eyes reddening.
“You’re throwing this away too?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
That music box was from years ago, back when we had nothing. He couldn’t afford a grand gesture or a ring, but he’d given me that little box, promising, “One day, I will make you my bride.”
I had believed him. But reality gave me a slap in the face.
Love doesn’t work when there are three people in the relationship. It was too crowded.
And I didn’t want to stay anymore.
To avoid unnecessary drama, I spoke gently, “You are overthinking it. I’m not throwing these things away. I’m letting the professionals do all the refurbishing for me. How could I not want them?”
Seeing the calm expression on my face, Vincent visibly relaxed.
“Okay,” he said, “I’ll arrange for someone to install a whole new set of cabinets at home to store these things properly.”
I nodded. “Aren’t you two heading to work? You should go. I need to catch up on sleep.”
With that, I turned and walked toward the bedroom, locking the door behind me before he could say anything else.
***
I tore another page off the countdown calendar when I woke up in the afternoon. There were five days left.
I got a message from my professor, asking me to look for him to discuss the publication of my recent SCI paper, which had just been released in a major journal.
Vincent, however, called out of the blue. I said I had to go to my university and he said he would be right downstairs and send me.
Zoe was already sitting in the passenger seat when I got to the car.
I hesitated for just a second before silently getting into the back.