Home, Finally, Without Him

Home, Finally, Without Him

Ellene Millstein

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The plane landed, and Liam was there, handsome as ever, his smile making my heart flutter despite the exhaustion of my art residency. But then I found a delicate pink earring in his car, one that wasn't mine. Minutes later, his phone buzzed; it was his assistant, Chloe, and then a text popped up: "Are you with her?" He brushed it off as "just work," but his hurried attempt to get rid of me, to send me into a bakery while he "circled the block," spoke volumes. The cold dread in my stomach turned to ice, confirming what I already suspected: his concern for me was a performance, and the earring was a deliberate marker, a sign that my carefully constructed world was about to shatter.

Introduction

The plane landed, and Liam was there, handsome as ever, his smile making my heart flutter despite the exhaustion of my art residency.

But then I found a delicate pink earring in his car, one that wasn't mine.

Minutes later, his phone buzzed; it was his assistant, Chloe, and then a text popped up: "Are you with her?"

He brushed it off as "just work," but his hurried attempt to get rid of me, to send me into a bakery while he "circled the block," spoke volumes.

The cold dread in my stomach turned to ice, confirming what I already suspected: his concern for me was a performance, and the earring was a deliberate marker, a sign that my carefully constructed world was about to shatter.

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