04

After the door closed, the only sound left in the apartment was the hum of the heater.

I didn't immediately clean up the coffee cups they'd left behind. The hazelnut latte still sat on the table, condensation beading on the cup.

In six years, Mason had memorized what milk Tessa drank and how many pumps of syrup she liked, but he'd forgotten that the smell of hazelnut flavoring gave me migraines.

I poured the coffee down the drain and went back to packing.

The London posting was only a year, and the company would provide a short-term apartment. There was no reason to keep the Chicago place. I sent building management an early-termination request and scheduled the key handover for 8:30 the next morning.

At seven that evening, Jamie called on video out of the blue.

She was my most trusted colleague at Northline, blunter than me, and never any good at pretending she hadn't seen something.

The camera was shaking wildly, the Northline annual benefit gala in the background. She pushed through the crowd and pointed her phone at the check-in wall.

"Ellie, can you see this?"

"What's going on?"

The next second, I saw Tessa on Mason's arm, posing in front of the sponsor backdrop.

She was wearing a black dress I'd helped her pick out last year, and around her neck was the Northline partner access badge I'd applied for on her behalf. Mason wore a temporary guest badge, his registration note listing "Northline invited client." The two of them were adjusting their pose for the photographer.

The check-in attendant smiled and asked, "Mason Reed and partner, correct?"

Tessa didn't correct her.

Mason hesitated but didn't correct her either.

The photographer pressed the shutter.

In the flash of that camera, they became a couple in everyone's eyes.

Jamie cursed under her breath. "That pass she's wearing, you helped her get that, right?"

A few weeks earlier, Tessa had told me she needed to attend the gala to meet clients but didn't have an invitation. I'd used one of my own partner allocations to apply for a registered access badge in her name.

That badge was strictly for client engagement. Temporary guests could be added, but their real identity and purpose of attendance had to be registered.

Before I could answer, Jamie walked straight up to them.

"Hold on. That's not right." She turned to the registration staff. "She's not Mason's partner."

Several people nearby turned to look.

Tessa's smile disappeared.

"It's just a photo. Do you really have to say this in front of everyone?"

"Then why didn't you correct her when she asked?"

Tessa glanced at Mason.

"We just came together."

Jamie looked pointedly at the badge on her chest.

"You're using a badge Ellie got for you to bring her boyfriend here and pose as a couple. Did you really think no one would recognize you two?"

Mason stepped in.

"Jamie, this is between Ellie and me."

"Then don't stand in front of her company's sponsor wall and let people assume another woman is your partner."

"The staff was just making conversation."

"Then correct it now."

Mason said nothing.

It wasn't that he couldn't clear it up.

He simply decided, once again, that correcting Tessa would embarrass her, while my embarrassment was something a quick explanation could smooth over later.

Jamie's face was flushed with anger.

"She worked twenty-six days straight just to go to Colorado."

Mason frowned. "I know."

"You don't know anything." Jamie cut him off. "The year you were out of work, who paid for your licensing exam? You remember that, right?"

Mason's expression changed.

Tessa let out a cold laugh.

"Ellie helped us because she wanted to. Does that mean we need her permission for everything we do from now on?"

Jamie turned to her.

"She fixed your portfolio and got you your job. Not so you could use her badge to bring her boyfriend here and pose like a couple."

"I never forced her to do any of that." Tessa lifted her chin. "She likes taking care of people. That's her thing."

I held my phone, unable to say anything for a moment.

So that was how Tessa saw it. All those late nights I'd spent fixing her resume, introducing her to people, and helping her prepare for interviews were simply because I'd wanted to.

As long as no one had forced me, she owed me nothing.

Mason finally noticed how many people were watching.

"Enough."

He took Jamie's phone. His face suddenly filled my screen.

"Ellie, let's meet tomorrow morning." He spoke quickly, as if he could still take control of the situation. "Seven-thirty, at that diner you always go to. I'll explain everything."

"You sure you can make it?"

Mason looked into the camera.

"I won't reschedule this time."

My flight was at noon the next day. I needed to leave for the airport by 9:30.

I agreed anyway.

Not because I thought we could fix things. I just wanted to end six years properly. I wanted to sit across from him one last time and tell him we were over.

The next morning at seven, I arrived at the diner.

The sun wasn't up yet. The server recognized me and poured my coffee. She asked if Mason wanted his usual bacon-and-egg wrap.

I said, "I'll wait for him to order."

At 7:15, Mason called. I could hear car horns and Tessa speaking quickly in the background.

"Ellie, I'm going to be a little late."

I looked at the empty seat across from me.

"How long?"

"Tessa's rental car got towed."

"How is that your problem?"

"My field sensors are in the trunk, and she left client files in the car." He spoke quickly. "The impound lot closes at noon. I have to go there first."

"Why are client files in her personal rental?"

"Let's get everything back first. We can deal with who's responsible later."

"So?"

"Let's move breakfast to eleven-thirty. Wait for me. I'll come straight over when I'm done."

By eleven-thirty, I'd already be at the airport.

But Mason didn't know that.

He'd never asked why I'd chosen seven-thirty. He hadn't asked if I had somewhere else to be.

He simply assumed I'd do what I always did and push my own schedule back.

I said, "Okay."

I could hear the relief in his voice.

"Wait for me. I'll head over as soon as I'm done."

After we hung up, I finished my coffee and paid the bill.

Then I blocked Mason and Tessa.

Back at the apartment, I handed the keys to the property manager. While she verified the termination paperwork, she noted that Mason was still listed as my emergency contact.

"Remove him now."

"Would you like to add a new emergency contact?"

I wrote down Jamie's name.

Visitor access, emergency contact, shared smart-lock records. One by one, I cleared them out of the system.

Finally, I left a box of Mason's things with the front desk, and put the ruined snow boots and the urgent care discharge instructions into a clear donation bag for the building staff to handle.

On the way to the airport, the messages Mason sent were caught in my block list.

I never opened them.

Before takeoff, light snow began to fall outside the cabin window.

I watched the runway slowly recede and suddenly remembered a heavy snow six years earlier, when Mason's old car had broken down outside Chicago.

I'd driven two hours to pick him up.

When he got in, his hands were shaking from the cold. Still, he smiled at me. "Next time, I'll be the one picking you up."

Six years later, that day finally came.

Only he never showed.