After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 19

After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 19

A few days later, on a sunny weekend.

“I heard Ava opened that little art studio of hers by the Charles,” Sloane said to Noah while scrolling through her phone with casual indifference. “It sounds quaint. We should take a walk around there, Noah. Just a weekend stroll. Maybe we’ll run into her and congratulate her.”

Her tone carried a cat-and-mouse mockery, and her intention to declare ownership was unconcealed.

A flicker of irritation passed through Noah’s heart, but he agreed.

As the car headed toward the Charles, Noah’s fingers tightened unconsciously on the steering wheel. As if under a spell, he had agreed to Sloane’s request. He thought of how Ava had told him countless times that she dreamed of having her own studio by the Charles one day, with sunlight falling through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto the easels. At the time, he had only thought it was an impractical fantasy. He had never supported her.

“Darling, what are you thinking about?” Sloane asked as she excitedly adjusted her makeup, smiling with satisfaction at herself in the mirror. “Later, we’ll find the spot with the best view for pictures. I want to post on Instagram.”

Noah came back to himself and looked at Sloane beside him, perfectly made up and reeking of perfume. He smiled perfunctorily.

“Nothing. Thinking about work.”

He was lying. What appeared in his mind was Ava. She had never been like Sloane, needing two hours to get ready as if she were walking a red carpet whenever she left the house. Ava always wore comfortable sweaters, her face clean, with a faint scent of paint and coffee on her. She would sit quietly in the studio and draw with Lily, not clamor to check in at some influencer spot.

On a clear, breezy day, Noah and Sloane arrived at the Charles River.

Sloane was like a cheerful butterfly, darting along the scenic riverside path and directing Noah to photograph her from every difficult angle. She kept posting updates, enjoying the likes and praise of the virtual world.

Noah dutifully played the perfect boyfriend, a gentle smile on his face. But his gaze kept drifting beyond Sloane toward the distance, absently searching among the rows of riverside buildings. Deep inside, he felt hollow, as if an autumn wind were blowing straight through him.