midnight, smelling of beer and someone

ng, I didn' t

check my phone for a reminder to pick up his dry cl

ding in the kitchen, scowlin

sked, his voice tig

there," I said, walkin

ella? Are you still mad about last

myself a glass of water. It was th

on our anniversary. Do you have any idea the pressure I' m un

a small, elegantly wrapped box. He tossed it onto the

appy anni

ut a generic designer scarf, the kind you buy at an

he said, his voice drip

scarf, then at h

ng week. He got a notificati

Happy Bi

here I was reading. "A Venmo? Se

" I said, not looking up from m

wn since college, had been begging me to get drinks for months

me, I s

laughter clinging to my clothes. Matthew

you been?"

with M

tell me you we

off my heels. "And you were at a fund

oom. "This isn' t you, Stella. This wh

droom. The fight had gone out of me,

a task I' d been putting off for years. It was full of my o

ands trembled slightly as I opened it. Inside was my manuscript, the novel I'

kwood Writer' s Residency in Vermont. It was

ten the job offer in D.C., the big break he' d been working for. He' d told me it was a once-in-a-lifetime opport

cked up my life, put my degr

. The application portal for the n

n the floor of the dusty closet and sta