My Fingerprint Was Never Saved, but Her Lock Was Always Open Chapter 05

My Fingerprint Was Never Saved, but Her Lock Was Always Open Chapter 05

Vanessa sat propped up in the hospital bed, already lookitig much better than she had when she arrived.

“Gavin, I’m feeling much better. Don’t worry,” she said softly.

Gavin sat in the molded plastic chair beside her. “Okay,” he murmured without looking up.

He sent Nora a message.

Gavin: [Are you asleep?]

Five minutes passed without a reply.

He sent another.

Gavin: [I’ll look at the deed when I get home tomorrow. Don’t be mad.]

The emergency room gradually quieted in the early hours of the morning.

Gavin leaned back and closed his eyes, but he couldn’t sleep.

All he could think about was Nora’s last message.

Nora: [No need.]

Two simple words, clean and final, like a door closing.

He remembered her birthday the month before.

He had sent her some money through Venmo with the note:

[Buy yourself something you like.]

Nora replied: [Thank you.]

That was all.

He hadn’t thought anything of it at the time.

Looking back, maybe that was when she had stopped expecting anything from him.

Vanessa was discharged after daybreak.

The nurse said there was nothing seriously wrong and told her to rest at home.

Gavin handled the discharge paperwork and drove her home.

Vanessa sat in the front passenger seat, her voice soft and slightly clingy.

“Gavin, last night scared me to death. Thank God you were there.”

“Bring your inhaler with you from now on,” Gavin said.

Vanessa smiled. “With you around, I’m not afraid of anything.”

Gavin didn’t respond.

He placed his phone faceup on the center console.

At the first red light, he glanced down at it.

No messages.

At the second red light, he checked again.

Still nothing.

After dropping Vanessa off, Gavin didn’t go upstairs.

He stayed in the car.

He thought about all the times he had helped Vanessa move, fixed her plumbing, and brought her meals.

He had always believed those were things he should do.

They were childhood friends, and living alone in the city hadn’t been easy for her.

But as he stared at Nora’s last message, he suddenly realized that he had never once asked whether life had been hard for Nora during all the time he had ignored her.

My Amtrak train left at two in the morning.

I had booked a coach seat, and only a handful of passengers were scattered through the car.

I blocked Gavin’s number and archived our WhatsApp chat, keeping it out of my main inbox.

By daybreak, I had arrived in Tampa.

I found a budget hotel near the station.

The front desk clerk asked how long I planned to stay.

“I’m not sure yet,” I said. “I’ll see how it goes.”

Once I reached my room, I set down my suitcase, opened Indeed on my phone, and started looking through

job listings in Tampa.

Gavin-returned to his apartment.

He kicked off his shoes and walked into the living room.

A throw pillow on the couch was still slightly crumpled from the last time Nora had held it.

He walked over and smoothed it flat, then stood in the middle of the room and looked around.

He couldn’t say exactly what was wrong, but the apartment felt much emptier.

He opened the door to his home office.

The desk was bare. The document envelope was gone.

He froze for a moment, then walked over and searched through the drawers.

The few belongings Nora had kept there were gone too.

He took out his phone and called her.

It rang for a long time, but she didn’t answer.

He called again, and the call was declined.

The third call went to voicemail again. She had blocked his number.

Gavin stood in front of the closet with the phone in his hand for a long time.

Only then did he truly believe that Nora wasn’t simply angry.

She had left.

He drove to her apartment.

The moment he pushed open the door, he knew something was wrong.

A lot of things were missing from the living room, and more than half the closet was empty.

Yet the floor was spotless, and the stovetop had been polished until it gleamed.

She had even taken out the trash.

Standing in her empty living room, one word came to him.

Retreat.