"What's there to mean, Nora? Are you just looking for a fight?"

My throat closed up.

On the other end, I heard Skylar's soft, soothing murmur.

"Austin, don't be upset. Let me talk to Nora."

Austin had me on speaker.

Skylar had heard everything.

"Nora, I didn't mean anything by it. The gown got changed because Austin thought your taste wasn't great, so he asked me to take a look."

"He just wanted you to look beautiful on your wedding day. There's no need to throw a tantrum and make things hard for him."

Her tone was even, unhurried.

"As for the dates being the same, it's just a little promise, that's all."

"And there are only so many good dates to get married on. It's no surprise two would overlap."

"Austin and I grew up together. I've known him eighteen years."

"You really don't need to be jealous of me. I'll be blunt—if anything were ever going to happen between Austin and me, you wouldn't be the one marrying him."

Eighteen years.

Their eighteen years had bled right through my five.

Austin always called her Sky. He always called me Nora.

Five years, nine fights, and every single time Austin went and told her.

She was his strategist. She was also the thing that calmed him down.

I'd received thirty-four gifts from Austin over the years.

Half of them Skylar had picked. The other half he'd chosen himself, then run past her for approval.

I stayed quiet for three seconds, then I laughed.

"You're right."

Before Skylar could say anything else, I hung up.

I took an Uber home, dragged out my suitcase, and started packing.

Five years together, and in the end all of it fit into one small suitcase.

In an hour, I was done.

Only then did something feel wrong.

Snowball always shadowed me, but I'd been back a while now and hadn't seen her once.

I shot to my feet and searched the whole apartment.

Nothing. Snowball was gone.

A cold went through me, and I couldn't stop shaking.

Snowball was the cat my mother bought me before she died.

After Mom was gone, Snowball stayed in her place, beside me.

Twelve whole years.

Through the lowest, hardest stretches of my life, she'd been right there with me.

The doors and windows were all shut tight. How could she have gotten out?

My thoughts scattered, and without thinking I called Austin.

After a long stretch of ringing, he picked up, plainly irritated.

"Nora, what is it now?"

My voice caught, and the words came out a mess.

"She—Snowball… Snowball's gone…"

On his end, out of nowhere, Skylar shrieked.

The call cut off.

Austin had hung up on me.

I gripped the phone, and my reason came back to me, piece by piece.

I pulled up the home security footage and stared at the screen.

Snowball had still been here this morning.

When I left, she'd been curled obediently on the couch, watching the door for me.

After I was gone, she hopped down and sat sweetly by the door.

Snowball was waiting for me.

Ten minutes later, Skylar pushed the door open and came in.

She'd forgotten her bag, and she touched up her makeup in front of the full-length mirror.

The front door stayed wide open the whole time, and Snowball strolled right out.

Skylar never noticed.

With shaking hands, I called her.

One ring, then nothing.

She'd hung up on me.

So I called Austin instead.

The second it connected, I bit out each word.

"Put Skylar on the phone."

"That bug scared me half to death just now, Austin. Thank god you were here… the iced latte's done? Nobody makes it like you do…"

"Nora? What is it?"

"Snowball's gone. You came back later and left the door open, and she got out."

"And how is that my problem?"

Skylar's voice climbed higher.

"She was perfectly fine at home when I left."

"There was no cat outside, none in the elevator either. Nora, don't go pinning this on me."

I didn't have the patience to argue with her.

If Snowball wasn't in the hallway or the elevator, she had to have gone down the stairs.

I posted a lost-cat notice in the building group chat and headed for the stairwell.

Thirteen floors. I went down one at a time, searching each landing, even the windowsills.

Frantic, breathless.

My legs went so numb I could barely feel them.

More than once my vision blurred and I almost missed a step and went tumbling down.

Two hours, and not a sign of Snowball in the whole building.

There were still five floors above the thirteenth I hadn't checked.

I pressed the elevator button, and that was when the message came.

I woke the screen, and for one beat my heart lost its rhythm.

I dragged myself outside.

Snowball was lying by the swings in the little park.

When I was upset, I always brought her here and rocked on the swing with her in my arms.

The swing creaking softly back and forth.

Snowball curled against me, purring.

Now she slept here, and she would never wake.

I said nothing. I picked her up.

Snowball was gone. The animal hospital helped me arrange a cremation service.

I sat there in the clinic, hollow, and two hours later I went home.

Three in the morning. Austin was already asleep.

The living room was dark, the suitcase standing alone in it.

The newest message on my phone was the one he'd sent two hours earlier.

【Packing to go where? And where's Snowball? Nora, do you really have to make a scene out of nothing?】

I took the suitcase and left.

I checked into a hotel and didn't sleep all night.

The next day, Snowball came back to me in a small urn.

The days after that, I just lay in the hotel room, staring at nothing.

The phone lit up again and again.

Austin's messages, his calls. I ignored all of them.

The day I checked out, I mailed Skylar the wedding ring I'd long since taken off.

Along with it, a photograph.

Underneath the photo, I'd written a single line by hand, stroke by stroke.

Before I boarded the plane.

The last unread message was, again, from Austin.

I still didn't open it.

The SIM card went into the trash.

Just more garbage I didn't want anymore—along with my five years with him.

……

Nora hadn't come home for days.

No replies. No answered calls.

Austin didn't understand why she had to make such a scene over nothing.

He didn't intend to chase it. She'd come around on her own in a few days, the way she always did.

He saw no reason this time would be any different.

Besides, he didn't have time for her.

There was a little get-together at Skylar's place tonight.

He was busy shopping for groceries.

By evening, Skylar's home was warm and full of noise.

Her fiancé was there too.

Skylar bit her lip, a faint hurt in her eyes.

"Austin, why didn't Nora come with you?"

"Is she still upset with me? But I really didn't—"

The doorbell rang.

A delivery.

A medium-sized package, marked FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH CARE.

Skylar took it, puzzled.

"Who sent me something?"

"The sender… is Nora?"