I Stopped Chasing Him, and My New Boss Was His Brother novel · Chapter 2 of 32

Chapter 2: The Loft

Joelle goes to the institute to explain in person, and Tansy takes her to the loft where Hugh's slippers, mug and watch sit beside a single bedroom, until the door keypad beeps.

I gave myself two weeks to leave.

I used them to finish my handover at work and pack the apartment, one box a night, while Hugh was away.

On the last Thursday I took a train across town to the Coastal Institute, because I wanted to tell him in person.

Five years deserved that much.

The woman at the front desk checked her screen. "Dr. Pendry isn't in today. I don't know where he is."

"I'll wait in the lobby."

"Visitors can't wait here, sorry. It's a restricted building."

I was turning to go when a door banged open behind her.

Tansy came out of the lab in her cardigan, with her bag over one shoulder.

The crocheted Spider-Man hung from the zipper, swinging.

"Joelle!" She smiled and hugged me before I could step back. "Hugh's at an off-site conference. Were you looking for him? I'm heading home, it's two minutes from here. Come rest your feet."

She hooked her arm through mine and walked me out the door.

I should have pulled free.

I told myself I was only curious where Hugh slept when he said he was at the lab.

The loft was above a bakery, a few streets away.

"It's small," Tansy said, pushing the door open with her hip. "I rented it so I wouldn't lose commuting time. It has everything I need."

I stepped inside and saw a pair of men's slippers by the door.

They were gray plaid, size eleven.

I had bought those slippers last winter. I had wrapped them and put them under our tree.

I was still looking at them when I saw the mug on the shelf next to the entrance.

It was the blue mug with the chip in the handle. It was the one I had mailed to Hugh when he was at a conference, with a tin of ginger tea inside.

I took it down. My fingers weren't steady.

"Oh, don't misunderstand," Tansy said, and put a hand on my arm. "It's more convenient for the work. Hugh only sleeps here a few nights a month."

I put the mug back on the shelf.

I looked around the room.

There were two matching throw pillows, a gray one and a green one, on the couch.

His watch lay in a dish on the side table, the steel one with the cracked strap he had worn every day for six years.

Hugh's things were everywhere. His presence filled the room.

"You know," Tansy said, in a friendly voice, "he told me you made him those weird tea blends. He sent you a photo each time and then poured them down the sink."

She laughed.

"Men are like children, honestly. They're easy to handle once you know how."

I said nothing.

I took out my phone and photographed the slippers, the mug, the watch and the pillows, one after another.

Tansy watched me and smiled. "Pretty light in here, isn't it?"

"Very," I said.

"Oh, and I wanted to say, the last time you two fought, I was the one who talked him into going home. Couples fight. Just talk it out. It'll all be fine."

I thought of that week.

I had cried until my eyes were swollen, writing and deleting apologies, begging myself to do better.

He had been here the whole time.

Someone had been making him chicken stew and telling him he was right.

"I'll teach you my stew sometime," Tansy said. "He loves it. It's not even hard."

I turned toward the bedroom door because I needed to know.

It was open a crack.

One bed. One pillow with a dent in it. A man's jacket over the chair.

My stomach turned over.

There was one bedroom in this apartment, and I knew whose jacket that was.

I wasn't going to cry in front of her.

I had come here to say a sentence, and I would say it, but I wanted him to hear it from me and not from her.

I straightened my shoulders. "Tansy, I'd like to wait for him."

"Of course," she said brightly. "Sit down. Do you want tea?"

I sat on the couch with the green pillow. She went into the kitchen and put the kettle on, humming.

It was the same song Hugh hummed when he cooked.

Then a beep came from the front door.

Someone was entering the keypad code.

The lock turned, and Hugh walked in with a folder under his arm.

"Tansy, did you see the report I finished yesterday?" he said. "I thought I left it on the living room table."

He stepped out of his shoes and into the gray slippers without looking down.

Then he looked up and saw me.

The color left his face.

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