The next day I left the city with my supervisor for a work trip. Spending time with a leading expert in the field was the kind of opportunity I'd spent years working toward, and I absorbed everything I could. The days were full, and I didn't think about Nathaniel once.
Love, I thought, was just a minor interruption in the wider landscape of a life. A welcome one when it was good, and no great loss when it was gone.
When I got back, I took a day to rest, then handled my mother's discharge paperwork and saw her and Aunt Laura off to Clearwater.
On my first day back at work, I found Nathaniel waiting outside my office building. He was leaning against his Porsche Cayenne, looking worn down: wrinkled shirt, stubble coming in, hair slightly disheveled, cigarette butts scattered at his feet, t
