“You were planning this all along, weren’t you?” He tried to turn this around on her. “How did you manage to find movers in just one day?”
Aida was furious. “You don’t get to make this my fault. As for the movers, since I’m no longer helping to pay for a wedding, I thought paying a higher last-minute price was a worthwhile use of the money.” This wasn’t true—MODA had made all the arrangements, but that was a strange explanation, and it didn’t have the bite Aida wanted it to have.
Graham sat on the edge of the bed, put his head in his hands, and began to cry. She watched him break down and part of Aida ached to comfort him, but self-preservation held her back. The ringing doorbell was her escape, and she walked away, leaving the remnants of their relationship behind.
A moving truck was parked outside, a feat in busy Somerville. She had no idea how MODA had managed the truck’s parking permit, but there they were, two young men standing on the step with boxes and packing tape in hand. She led them inside and set them to work in her office.
As the movers did their job, the air inside the house grew heavier. Each box they packed seemed to seal away another chapter of her life with Graham, and each item moved another memory. Aida directed them with a quiet efficiency, her focus unwavering. Most of the furniture was Graham’s, but there was the occasional piece or two that she had brought with her when she moved in. But most of the art and all the books were hers. She helped mark the items that would go with her to Romeand those that would go into storage. Mercifully, Graham hid himself away in his office while they worked.
When the movers were nearly finished, she texted Yumi and then went to say her last goodbye to Graham.
The door to the study was cracked open. Through the gap, Aida could see he was staring out the window toward the newly budding garden. She pushed the door open but didn’t go inside.
“I’m leaving in a few minutes,” she said to his back. “I sent you a Venmo to help with the mortgage and utilities for this month.” They hadn’t yet combined their bank accounts, and for that, Aida counted her lucky stars. He certainly didn’t deserve the money, but unlike him, she wasn’t about to brush off her obligations.
His response was hardly audible. “I’m sorry, Aida.”
“Me too,” she said, pushing past the threat of tears and back toward resolve by thinking of Erin sitting on the kitchen counter that morning.
He turned toward her and his eyes, once filled with warmth and humor, held a depth of sadness that was palpable. The slight graying at his temples, which she had once found so distinguished, now made him appear weary.
“Do you remember that night at Hojoko?” he asked, his voice cracking slightly.
“I do.” Of course she did. There was a guy at the bar who wouldn’t stop bothering her, and Graham gallantly swept in, pretending to be her boyfriend. But she wasn’t going to give in to nostalgia now.
He smiled, albeit sadly. “I had been watching you the entire evening, trying to gather the courage to talk to you. That guy just gave me the perfect excuse.”
They shared a brief silent moment, lost in the memory of that night, a night that turned into two nights, then four nights, and then she was moving in with him, a promise of something she thought would last forever.
“I wish we could have held on to that feeling,” Aida said.
“Can I hug you goodbye?”
That broke Aida, and all the tears that she had held back came flowing forth. Graham went to her and folded her into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder, the tears mingling with the slight perfume that lingered, a perfume that wasn’t hers.
After a time, he lifted her chin up. “I will always love you. And I will always regret not being able to do this again.” He kissed her, and she let him.
“Goodbye, Graham,” she said when the kiss broke. She pulled away and went to the door, refusing to give in to the urge to look back—to run back. She hated that she loved him so much. But nothing could ever be the same.
Yumi was waiting outside, her silvery blue Volkswagen Beetle double-parked not far from where the movers were locking up the truck. She gave Aida a quick hug, ignoring the honk of the taxi waiting for her to move.
“How are you doing?” she asked after they were on the road. “You look a wreck.”
Aida flipped down the mirror to inspect her visage, then flipped it back up after she saw how right her friend was. “I’m exhausted, and god, this is all so hard.”
“I still can’t believe you’re here, and you’ve already moved out.” She pointed at the dashboard clock. “It’s barely been twenty-four hours! They just put you on a plane? And found movers for you?”
“I apparently work for an extraordinarily efficient company,” she said. But she tapped Yumi’s arm and waved her phone at her friend. Yumi nodded that she understood. They had exchanged enough illicit texts and stolen phone calls to thwart MODA’s secretive side. “I don’t think it’s all hit me yet.” She sighed. “Ugh, and all the wedding plans.”
“I’ll help, don’t worry. For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the right thing.”
A little bit of the tension within her gave way. “Oh, thank god. I had hoped you would say that.”
“And you’re taking the job, right?”
Aida nodded.
“Good. I mean, I’m going to miss you to pieces, but you have so much opportunity there, and aside from me, you have a lot of sadness here. Most people would be glad for such a break to start over.”
