Sunlight and Solace

lift. He avoided social media, but news of Chloe still found him. Mike' s girlfriend saw a post, a picture of Chloe and Jake at the fancy restaurant Ethan had booked for their rehearsal dinner. Th

she was actively overwrit

ere sitting on the small balcony of Mike' s apartment. "How could you not se

gh-maintenance. I thought her love was something you had to earn." He took a long swallow of beer. "I was always the one planning dates, rememb

and had a fireplace roaring when she arrived. She had smiled, said it was "nice," and then spent most of the weekend on her phone. He had told himself she was just tired from work. Now he knew t

t to get involved," the friend started, "but I saw Chloe and Jake together, like, six months ago. At that little Ital

stretched back further than he could have imagined. It wasn't a recent mistake, it was a long, calculated deception. The knowledge didn' t hurt as much

rn. "Oh, Ethan, honey, what happened? Is there anything we can do?" He could picture her face, the worri

"It' s for the best. I just need... to get away for a wh

ition? Where?"

. "Very remote. In the Arctic." There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line. It was a drastic move, but it was