“What do you mean, a bouquet of flowers?” Adam asked Jesse, while pacing back and forth. “What do you think I mean, dumbass?” Jesse hissed back, a tinge of humor in his voice. “When I got here, it was sitting in front of the door.” Saturday morning was already off to an interesting start. Adam hadn’t slept well, again, and when he arrived at the pawn shop, Jesse told him that there had been a bouquet on the doorstep of the pawn shop. A part of Adam hoped that it was for Jesse, but he knew immediately upon hearing about it that he was its intended recipient. But still, there could be a chance that he was wrong . . . “You must have a secret admirer, Jesse,” he joked anxiously. “I’d hope not,” Jesse replied, “seeing as your name is on it.” From behind the counter, the taller man pulled out the gift in question, and Adam stopped in his tracks to stare at it. In a wrap of light blue papier-mâché, the bouquet contained the two flow
Larisa didn’t show up until 9:10. The extra ten minutes he’d waited both enraged Adam and made him consider reconsidering. Did he have to confront her? What if he was wrong? But the moment he heard her key twist in the front door’s lock, his hesitance disappeared. There would be no dancing around the issue. The elephant in the room had to be addressed now. After listening to her remove her shoes and coat, he expected her to head into the dining room. Instead, by the sound of it, she started walking upstairs. “Larisa,” he called out, and she froze in her tracks halfway up. “Come in here.” She didn’t move for a few seconds, but when she did, she came back downstairs and did as he asked. “Yeah?” Though she tried to look normal, brushing a strand of loose hair behind her ear, her hands trembled a bit. He gestured to a chair he’d set near himself. “Sit down.” “Listen, I’m really tired—” “Sit down.”
The first thing Adam noticed was the rain falling on the windshield. Since the wipers weren’t on, it was near impossible to see past the waves of water running down the glass. All he could hear was the sound of the heavy deluge going on around him. He was in his car, but didn’t know how or why. The last thing he could remember was sulking in his office after arguing with Larisa. Why was he in his car now? More importantly: where was he? It was hard to make out his surroundings past the water, but he could at least tell that he wasn’t in the driveway anymore. He appeared to be in a parking lot, though not one that he recognized. Since he was in the driver’s seat, he must have driven here . . . but why? Andwhen? He had no recollection of leaving his office, much less the house.&nbs
As Adam awoke, he felt a hand laid on his chest. His first thought in his grogginess was that it was Larisa. So, thankful that he was safe at home and in his own bed, he turned over without opening his eyes and moved closer to her. There was a sweet smell lingering in the air—some sort of perfume—but he was too comfortable to register what it was. For the first time in a while, he’d woken up in a good mood, and though he couldn’t rememberwhy, he wasn’t about to waste it. No, he was going to snuggle with his wife and sleep in for a few more minutes before she got up to get ready for work. But even despite his determination, something about the way Larisa smelled bothered him.Her hair smells sweet, like . . .Like pansies.&
He spent the rest of Monday fretting in his office. There was no proof beyond his browser history that Evangeline’s Twitter account had ever existed. The direct messages to and from her had all disappeared, on both his computer and his phone. No posts mentioned her handle. She had even disappeared from the other social media platforms, where she’d only followed him. There wasn’t even any trace of her bouquet in the house. As far as he could tell, she was gone. He had to wonder if this was part of what she’d meant when she told him he’d never see her again. Was it really necessary to deactivate all her accounts?Then again, she did vanish into thin air back at the motel, so this is theleastshe could do. It t
“How are you feeling?” The patient didn’t answer, but this wasn’t surprising to Dr. Frost. He looked down at the notebook in his hands and raised his pen to make a note, but realized that there wasn’t anything to make note of. The patient had hardly said a word during the near-15 minutes that he’d been sitting in front of him. Discouraged but not defeated, Dr. Frost sighed and stood up. He began to pace behind his own chair. There had to be something to break the patient’s silence, something that would force a reply. “Would you like to talk about what happened?” Again, no response.&
Larisa found the tiny coffee shop nearby to be quaint and homey. She enjoyed the atmosphere it gave off, not to mention the smell of coffee and cappuccinos. On the table in front of her was one of the latter, with cinnamon sprinkled on top of the milk foam. As she sat in wait for her date, sipping her drink, she gazed at the pansy sitting in a glass vase on the center of her table. She was sitting right beside a large window. It gave her a nice view of the street outside, separating her from the brisk winter air with only a pane of glass. Because of the cold it gave off, she’d kept her coat on after sitting down. She’d only be there for a few minutes when, looking left and right, her date entered the shop. Then he made a bee-line for her table and sat down across from her. “Jesse,” she said his name with a loving warm
After waking up around five in the morning, Adam decided to spend a few hours lying in bed to gaze at his sleeping wife. He hoped this would help him fall back to sleep himself, but instead he stayed this way for two hours. At 7:01 sharp, he turned over and got out of bed. If he couldn’t sleep, he reasoned, he may as well do something productive. The goal was to get back to his normal routine, if only to appease Larisa so she wouldn’t send him to see Dr. Frost again. While he still wasn’t convinced he wasn’t in some sort of illusion, his best option was to play along. So even though he knew Larisa would protest were she awake, he got up and dressed in silence. As he left the bedroom, he closed the door behind himself, being both careful and quiet. Then he pulled out his phone. “I’m coming in today,”