CHAPTER NINETEEN
Marni
I wake with the sun, relishing the way it streams in through the windows.
But the room feels strange, something awkward and different about it that I cannot figure out, until I see that Charlie’s things are not here. The closet he uses is half open—everything gone. The shoes by the bed, his alarm clock on the nightstand. Not here. Even the smell of him seems to have vacated the room, replaced by…
I think a moment, unsure…
Something older than Charlie but familiar comes to mind.
I hear footsteps in the hallway beyond the door, then it creaks open on its rusty hinge.
“Carlton!” I’m ready to jump from bed.
But then he holds up his hand to stop me. His face has none of the tenderness or understanding that I remember. I shrivel back inside the covers, worried.
“W
