I checked the time again.
Then my phone buzzed.
A text.
I’m not coming. I’m sorry. It’s all going too fast and I need space and time. I’m going away for now. Please don’t call.
Everything in me went cold.
Not because of the content.
Because of the message.
Too flat. Too generic. Too clumsy. Emily did not say “space and time” like she was writing bad dialogue for someone else’s breakup. She did not say “going away for now” like a woman vanishing into fog. And if she wanted distance, she would never text it from the middle of a planned dinner after letting me sit down first. She would face me. Shake if she had to. Cry, perhaps. But face me.
I called her immediately.
No answer.
I called again.
Nothing.
The third time went straight to voicemail.
I stood too fast, my leg protesting sharply enough to make me catch myself on the edge of the table before I reached for my cane. I threw a few bills down without looking at the amount and headed for the door.
Olivero was already moving off his stool at the bar before I got to him.
“What happened?”
I shoved the phone at him as I walked. “Something happened to her.”
He scanned the text, keeping pace easily. “Well…” He frowned. “It does say it’s going too fast. You met her in July, it’s December, and?—”
“No.”
The word came out forcefully enough force to make him look at me
.
“She wouldn’t do this like that,” I said. “Not by text. Not after making me sit in a restaurant like some idiot to be dismissed. She would tell me to my face.” I yanked the door open and stepped out into the cold. “She’s not cruel. And she is absolutely not a coward.”
Olivero followed me toward the car, his expression growing more severe with every word.
“Okay,” he said. “I hear you. But what if?—”
“No. This isn’t her.”
I slid behind the wheel, fury already burning beneath my skin.
“This has Matteo written all over it,” I said. “Some absurd need to test me at exactly the wrong moment.”
Olivero was in the passenger seat by then, phone already in hand.
“Fuck,” I muttered, starting the engine. Then, louder, with the full weight of what was happening settling into place:
“Fuck.”
