CHAPTER 2: STILL GONE
683 Words
CHAPTER 2: STILL GONE
Caroline woke up earlier than usual. For the first time in weeks she didn’t feel completely heavy. She showered, brushed her teeth, and went downstairs still in her sleep shirt.
Justin was on the sofa watching football.
“Justin, hey.”
He looked over. “Care. You’re up. How are you?”
“Better, I think.” She gave a small smile. “What do you want to eat?”
“If you’re not too lazy… there’s chicken in the fridge. Just heat it up with some chips?”
“Alright.”
“Don’t tell me you’re only doing this because Noah’s here,” he said, already smiling.
She gave him a look. “I can put it back.”
“Okay, okay, sorry,” he laughed.
A few minutes later Noah came down. Hair still wet and messy. Towel hanging low on his waist. Water on his shoulders.
Caroline almost dropped the plate.
“God, Noah — clothes. Please.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t act like you’ve never seen this before.”
“Breakfast is nearly ready. No clothes, no food.”
He laughed quietly and went back upstairs. When he returned he was dressed. The three of them ate at the counter like it was normal.
Halfway through, Justin said, “Caroline, Noah just inherited his father’s company. I’m going with him this morning for the legal stuff.”
She looked at Noah. “You’re the new CEO of Michael’s Machinery?”
He shrugged, a bit awkward. “Guess the years abroad weren’t totally wasted.”
“That’s big,” she said.
Justin grabbed his keys. “We’ll be out most of the morning. Take care.”
“Bye.”
The door shut. Quiet again.
Caroline picked up her phone. There was a new message from the stranger.
**Hope you gave the puppy a proper burial**
Laughing emoji.
She stared at it. Half annoyed. Half… not. No one had teased her like that in a long time.
She was about to reply when her thumb stopped. Last night she had been trying to text Ari.
Ari.
The name hit hard.
Ari had been dead for months. Car crash. Rainy Tuesday. One day they were sending each other stupid voice notes, the next day nothing. Caroline still didn’t fully believe it sometimes.
Her throat tightened. She sat down on the sofa and the tears came fast. Messy. She didn’t try to stop them. Just pressed her hands over her face and let it happen.
She cried until her head hurt. When it finally slowed, the apartment felt even emptier.
Her phone buzzed.
**You okay? You’ve gone quiet.**
She looked at the message. Part of her wanted to ignore it. The other part was tired of holding everything in.
**Not really.**
The reply came quick.
**Want to talk about it? Or should I just send bad puppy jokes until you feel slightly less s**t?**
A small, wet laugh came out of her.
**Bad jokes. Please.**
**Alright. Why did the puppy sit in the shade? … Because he didn’t want to be a hot dog.**
Caroline shook her head, still wiping her face, but her mouth moved a little.
They kept going for a while. The jokes were genuinely terrible. It didn’t fix anything. Ari was still gone. The heavy feeling was still there. But the silence didn’t press quite as hard.
When Justin and Noah came back in the afternoon, Caroline had washed her face and was staring at the TV. She didn’t mention the crying. Just asked how the meeting went.
Noah looked at her a second longer than he needed to, like he noticed something, but he didn’t ask.
Justin started talking about paperwork. Caroline nodded and tried to listen.
Later, when the two of them were in the kitchen, she opened the chat again.
**Thanks. For earlier.**
The reply came fast.
**Anytime.**
Caroline put the phone down and leaned her head back. She still felt raw. But for the first time in a long while, she hadn’t gone through the worst part completely alone.
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