All Chapters of Ten Minutes to Grieve: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

It was just getting light when Julian came in from the balcony.He showed no sign of having stayed up all night, as if he hadn't been the one who had spent the entire night talking to Zoe Whitmore.I sat at the dining table, slowly slipping my grandmother's papers into a document envelope. A few changes of clothes lay beside them.Julian glanced at it. He didn't ask when I had packed. He only took a black card out of his inside jacket pocket. "Use this to cover your grandmother's funeral expenses. The limit is more than enough."The card slid across to me. My fingers stopped. I looked up at him. "Who were you talking to until dawn last night?"Something in his face went stiff for a second. It took him a moment to pull out a chair and sit down. His voice was flat. "Just some work problems. Get the funeral arrangements done first, and don't worry about anything else."The housekeeper brought over a bowl of oatmeal just then, with no raisins and at just the right temperature.Julian took

Chapter 2

The funeral was set for two days later. It rained all night in my hometown.Julian came after all.He wore a sharply cut black suit and held a long-handled umbrella over me, blocking the slanting rain at the cemetery gate. His other hand rested steadily beneath the urn in my arms.My relatives saw him and told me how lucky I was that he had set his work aside and rushed over at a time like this.I looked down at the urn and didn't explain.Julian had canceled his meetings, and he did stand beside me from start to finish. He had even called the cemetery ahead of time and chosen a quiet plot on a slope for my grandmother, away from the relatives already circling her estate.While the rain came down, one of them tried to steer the conversation toward who would get the little house she had lived in.He handed over the paperwork and shut them up in a few sentences.In front of other people he was always dependable.After the rites I got into the car, cold and damp all over, my fingers still

Chapter 3

When I got home, Julian was already back.He saw me come in and took my bag from me. "What's in the box is for you."Only then did I notice the long wooden box sitting in the entryway.Inside was an out-of-print botanical guide with yellowed pages and my name custom-embossed on the cover.It was the book I had wanted all through graduate school.We had found it in a used bookstore once. I spent a long time leafing through it, but put it back because it was too expensive.Julian said that once the company was steady, he would track a copy down for me.My hand shook as I ran it over the cover. "You found it?""I had someone ship it from overseas." He pushed the book toward me. "Keep it if you like it."I didn't take it. I looked up at him. "Why can Zoe reach you whenever she wants?"He undid his cuff links and met my gaze. "Her father, Graham Whitmore, helped the company back then, and she's struggled with her mental health for years. I can't just turn my back on her.""You said she wasn

Chapter 4

At eight the next morning Julian was dressed and straightening his tie in front of the mirror.That was when Zoe knocked.She was in thin loungewear, her eyes red. She looked at me first from the doorway, then back at Julian.Julian went over, took the bag out of her hands, sat her down on the couch, and told the housekeeper to bring her a cup of hot tea."You came out dressed like that?" He frowned, picked up a coat, and draped it around her shoulders.I stood in the entryway with the small suitcase in hand.Zoe saw it and hesitated. "Where are you going, Iris? Back home?"Julian answered for me. "She's going away to clear her head. She's been low lately, and a few days somewhere else will help."He said it lightly.I watched him draw the collar of the coat closed at Zoe's throat, the same care he had used on countless nights tucking the blanket in around me.Julian picked up his car keys. "I'll be back after the meeting. The card is yours. Buy whatever you want."I looked at the card

Chapter 5

On my third day at the institute, Julian finally found me.He stood in the doorway of the reception room, still in the dark coat he had traveled in, fine sand on his shoes, a paper bag in his hand.My colleagues assumed he had come to drop off documents. They poured water for us and left.He pushed the bag across. The out-of-print botanical guide was inside. "You left in such a hurry you forgot the book at home."I looked at it without reaching for it. "I didn't forget. I didn't want it."Julian sat across from me, the shadows under his eyes obvious. "Iris, have you been all right?"I didn't answer. I opened a folder and placed the acknowledgment of receipt for the separation notice in front of him. "That notice can't settle the property on its own, so I had my attorney send the formal agreement to your office today."He pressed his fingers down on the paper. His voice dropped. "Iris, does it have to be this final? You do realize I was going to announce you as senior partner at that su

Chapter 6

Life at the institute was harder than I had imagined.Up at six, out to the sample plots with the team to log wind direction and soil moisture. By the time I got back to the dorm at night my face was coated in fine sand and my fingers were numb from hours in gloves.Julian didn't give up after I turned him down. Over the past month, he had tried to reach me many times.First came calls, then emails. After that, he had his assistant ship my things to the institute in batches.I kept only my documents and my research files and sent everything else back.One night the power went out in the dorm. I was feeling around in the dark for the spare flashlight when my phone screen lit up with a message from Julian.He said Zoe had moved out and that he'd redone the primary bedroom, replacing the curtains and sheets with colors I liked.I looked at it for a long time and didn't reply.The next day he came to the institute himself.This time he brought no gift, only an agreement returning the share

Chapter 7

Six months later I was invited to a green-building conference.The institute cohosted the public event with several partner organizations. As a guest specialist on the desert restoration project, I presented a plan for deploying a new sand-binding plant.The hall was large, and many familiar faces sat below the stage.Julian was there too.He still ran the company, but he wasn't in the front row. He sat in the sponsors' section and listened quietly.When I came off the stage he was waiting at the end of the corridor. "Professor Calloway.""Is there something you need, Mr. Vance?""I'll only take a few minutes of your time."I lifted my wrist and checked my watch. "My next meeting is in ten minutes."Bitterness flickered in his eyes. "You still remember.""I've always had a good memory.""I've cleared my schedule." He started to step forward, but when he saw me pull back instinctively, he stopped awkwardly where he stood. "Come back. Let's start over, all right?"He had brought no flowe

Chapter 8

I didn't expect to run into Zoe again.That day I was at an internal review, and afterward I saw her in the hotel lobby.She stopped me. Her makeup was immaculate, but it still couldn't cover the darkness under her eyes. "Iris, Julian won't take my calls anymore."I didn't stop walking. "That's between the two of you.""Did you say something to him?" She put out an arm to block my way. "The Whitmores helped him back then. He can't treat me like this.""If it's a debt, let him repay it under the contract."Zoe froze, and her eyes reddened fast. "I'm really sick. My doctor says I can't handle stress."I looked at her wrist. There were no scars on it, only an expensive bracelet."Then go and see the doctor."I went around her, and she laughed behind me. "You think he's looking into me because he finally understands what he lost? He just found out the Whitmores aren't useful to him anymore."I kept walking.At the time I didn't understand what she meant.I found out later, when Julian hand

Chapter 9

Julian came to the institute in early winter.He came three days in a row and waited each day from the moment the reception room opened until closing time.It was the third afternoon before a colleague told me.When I went out, his lips were white with cold and he was holding an envelope. "This is the transfer agreement for all of the company's equity," he said. "And the dividends you were owed over the years. I've had my attorney calculate them."I took it without opening it. "What about the report you commissioned?"He blinked. "What?""The environmental certification review your company applied for. The institute has the request.""That isn't why I came.""Then why are you here?"He looked at me. "I only wanted to see you again."I didn't invite him inside. I stood in the wind and let him finish."I've cleaned up everything with Zoe and the Whitmores, and I'll carry the company's losses myself.""None of that concerns me.""I know." His throat moved. "I only wanted to tell you that

Chapter 10

Julian kept every promise.He returned the shares, paid the dividends into a separate account, and when the institute issued its report, paid the consulting fee in full as agreed.He never used any of it as leverage to see me.I heard that he stepped down as CEO and moved back into the apartment we used to share.There was still a timer in that apartment.People said he set it on the table every night, switched it off when the time ran out, and then started it again.None of that had anything to do with me anymore.Years passed, and the sand-binding plants finally began thriving across broad stretches of the test field.My advisor asked what I wanted to name it. I opened the old notebook my grandmother had left. Inside was a planting record she had written when she was young, its handwriting crooked. Beside it was a drawing of a tiny seedling that had never grown.In the end, I decided to name it after her childhood nickname.On the day of the announcement my colleagues from the instit

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