Seven Times I Drew Blank, Seven Times They Drew Each Other Chapter 07

Seven Times I Drew Blank, Seven Times They Drew Each Other Chapter 07

After the flight landed, Julian didn’t go home.

He went straight to my apartment.

The entry code no longer worked.

He knocked for a long time before the landlord finally came upstairs.

“Looking for Ms. Ellis? She moved out yesterday.”

Julian stiffened.

“Do you know where she went?”

“No.”

The manager handed him a cardboard box.

“She said if you came by, I should give you this.”

Julian took it immediately.

The box was surprisingly light.

Inside were all the things he had given me over the years: a discontinued watch, a few books, an old

sweater, and the camera he had bought me.

He had given me that camera in the second year of our relationship.

“You take great pictures,” he had said. “From now on, you can handle all the photos of the five of

us.”

At the time, I hadn’t caught what was wrong with that sentence.

There were six of us.

But he had said the five of us.

I asked him later, “What about me?”

He paused, then laughed and ruffled my hair.

“Aren’t you the photographer?”

“The photographer is supposed to be behind the camera.”

I believed him.

So over the years, I took tens of thousands of pictures of them: Julian and Vanessa goofing around together, the five of them celebrating birthdays, and the five of them standing side by side watching

the sunrise.

There were hardly any pictures of me.

At the bottom of the box was a hard drive.

Julian plugged it into the computer.

There was only one folder.

It was titled [Outside the Frame].

He opened it.

The first photo showed the five of them raising their glasses at a restaurant.

In the reflection of the window, I could be seen sitting alone at another table.

The second showed the five of them in matching jackets.

I stood behind them, holding the clothes they had taken off.

In the third, Julian and Vanessa stood together under one umbrella in the rain.

Across the street, I stood in the downpour taking their picture.

The fourth was my birthday cake sitting alone on the table.

Only one person’s reflection appeared in the mirror.

The fifth was from this trip.

The five of them stood by the ocean while I held three bags, my shadow stretching long across the ground in the sunlight.

Beneath the photo, I had written one small line.

[Seven years of trying, and I still never made it in.]

Julian stared at the words until his eyes reddened.

There was also an unfinished video on the computer.

He opened it.

It showed me designing the digital wedding invitation.

My voice came through the speakers.

“This is the seventh year since we met.”

“Julian said the six of us would always stay together.”

“So on our wedding day, I want six seats at the head table.”

On the screen, I drew six small portraits one by one: Julian, Vanessa, Derek, Miles, the other

couple, and me.

Then I arranged all six of us in a circle and smiled.

“This time, there’s finally a place for me too.”

Julian slammed the laptop shut.

But he couldn’t stop those words from repeating in his head.

I had deliberately saved six seats at the head table for our wedding.

Then, on our last trip before the wedding, seven blank cards had told me exactly where I stood.

Even in a group of six, there had never really been a place for me.

His phone suddenly rang.

It was the wedding planner, who still hadn’t quite adjusted to the cancellation.

“Mr. Mercer, the wedding gown Ms. Ellis ordered has arrived.”

“Now that the wedding is canceled, what would you like us to do with it?”

Julian’s throat tightened.

“Send it to me.”

That afternoon, the gown was delivered.

A staff member unzipped the garment bag, and the white skirt fell into place.

Six small stars had been embroidered along the waist.

Julian recognized them immediately.

They represented the six of us.

But the star that had been placed at the center was gone.

The staff member explained, “Ms. Ellis messaged us last night.”

“She said she didn’t need six stars anymore.”

“She asked us to remove hers.”

“She said five was exactly right.”

Julian stood there without a word.