I stare at the notification for a long time.
Two year wedding anniversary.
I set that reminder on our first anniversary, tipsy on champagne and genuinely happy, or what I thought was genuine happiness, sitting across from Derek at a restaurant he booked three weeks in advance because he knew I liked that particular place and wanted to surprise me.
That version of him felt so real.
I dismiss the notification.
Rhys is watching me. He clocked the change in my expression before I could manage it and he does not pretend he did not.
"What is it?" he asks.
I turn the phone toward him.
He reads it. Says nothing for a moment. Then, quietly, "Do you want to be alone?"
"No," I say. Without hesitation.
He nods.
We sit in the settling quiet of the apartment and outsid
