“He left you?”
“Yes,” I cried, the sound so foreign I didn’t recognize it as my own.
Cash remained silent, and I shivered out another sob, my tears flowing freely again. Saying the words had left me riven just as Gabe had.
“Why would he leave? You mean he moved out?”
I sniffed, rubbing my nose on the back of my hand.
“Tor, you have to give me something here. Help me understand,” he pleaded, and I could hear the emotion, that this was killing him because he was too far away to help me.
“I don’t know,” I managed, sniffing again. “He was gone yesterday. When I woke.” I swallowed, the salty taste of my tears hitting my tongue when I licked my lips.
“He wouldn’t just leave you. I’m sure there’s some explanation.”
“My ring is gone and…” Another cry tore from my throat, scraping it like talons. “All of his things. He’s gone like he was never here.”
But I knew he’d been there because he had left my heart a shattered wreck of carnage.
“God, Tor. What happened? Something must have made him leave. Did you have a fight?”
“No. We had a wonderful night.” Memories of his touch returned, and I bent over, fighting the nausea as more tears came. “I can’t talk,” I said, dropping the phone and running to the bathroom. I slid to the floor, throwing up and crying until I was so exhausted I curled up in a fetal position. I didn’t know how to survive this. Nothing I’d ever experienced had hurt this badly. No one had ever hurt me like this, and to know Gabe was the source only worsened the agony because he had made so many promises that were now nothing but lies.
The next day was no better, but at least it was my day off. I tried calling Gabe two more times before I gave up. Before I convinced myself he was really gone. That he would never call me back. That I would never hear his voice again.
The next morning, I had no choice but to go to work. I managed to shower and dress. It wasn’t until I forced myself to drink some water and have a piece of toast that I saw my birth control pack sitting with the vitamins I’d forgotten to take forthe last four days. My heart pounded as I counted the days I had forgotten to take it. I had never missed a day, always taking it before I went to bed, but Gabe had distracted me the two nights before he left. His sex drive pushing me beyond exhaustion, and the last night, the wine had ensured I’d never made it back to the kitchen to notice I’d missed it. I hadn’t set foot in the kitchen since that Friday morning. He had pampered me, getting me drinks and food, making dinner for me, and in my bliss I had forgotten.
And during the two days I’d been too devastated to move, I had missed it. Four days. I swallowed back the fear and quickly researched how to catch up, taking the pill I’d missed the day before and setting an alarm so I wouldn’t forget the one tonight.
I shoved away the thought that the mistake could exacerbate my current predicament, ignoring the way my hands wouldn’t stop quaking the entire time I drove to work. I lasted three hours before my manager sent me home because I couldn’t stop crying on my calls. On my way out, I stopped on Gabe’s floor, peeking my head into his manager’s office.
“Tori, how… Are you all right?” Craig asked, rising from his desk.
I looked like hell. There was no hiding my red, swollen eyes, and no amount of makeup could conceal the dark circles under my eyes.
“Did you talk to Gabe?” I asked, my voice cracking when I said his name.
“No, he sent me an email on Sunday morning at like five o’clock resigning. His badge was on his desk along with his laptop. I stopped by to see you on Monday, but you were out sick. What’s going on?”
“Did he…” Another crack in my voice. “…say why?”
His brows furrowed. “Only that something came up, and he had to quit. I figured you would have an answer as to why hewould throw his career down the drain like that. I can’t give him a recommendation when he just up and quit like that.”
I crinkled my eyes, thinking it odd as well, but then everything about this was unexplainable.
“Okay, thanks.” I turned to leave.
“Tori, what happened?”
My step faltered. “He left. That’s all I know.”
“You?”
I glanced back at him, pressure building behind my eyes again and warning me the dam I’d put in place when I’d left that morning was about to break for the tenth time today. “Yes.”
His eyes held pity that broke me, and I wiped my hand under my eye. “I need to go.”
I didn’t give him time to reply, bolting from the office and getting myself as far from where Gabe had once sat, his beautiful hazel eyes lighting when I would come up to visit him on my break.
