My Exile

JOSIE

Three Days Later

“Thank you! Goodbye!” I waved my hand and smiled at the two men who had just finished carrying the final piece of furniture into my new apartment.

I closed the door, feeling absolutely exhausted, as if I were the one doing all the heavy lifting instead of the bulky men who had just left. I took a few steps and slumped on the sofa in the center of my new spacious salon. My eyes drifted to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Rittenhouse Square, and I let out a long sigh.

The view was lovely, and so was the entire apartment, but I missed New York. Perhaps I was an idiot for choosing Philadelphia instead of somewhere further away. Perhaps I should have moved to the West Coast... or to Alaska, but I didn't think I could bear being that far away from Killian.

It was the third day of my "exile,” and I was already going crazy. The restlessness was eating me alive. Only now did I realize what a perfect distraction my job had been. Without it, all I could do was thin