“Go out and get him,” David instructed her.
Aurelia shook her head again. “Antonia doesn’t think I should. She says he asked for space and I should give it to him.”
“Well, I disagree. If you had a fight, neither one of you is making it any better being apart. You can’t make up if you’re here and he’s—where is he?”
“I have no idea,” Aurelia said, tears starting up again.
“Oh, it’s alright,” he said, softening as he pulled her back into a hug. “It’s going to be alright.”
David stayed until she’d eaten and had another cup of tea, then left with instructions to call him if she wanted company later.
That evening, the quiet of the flat and the shop was almost suffocating. Julia had been a ball of energy, so her sudden disappearance felt magnified. David’s company had been welcome during the few hours he’d sat trying to cheer her up that afternoon, but after he’d left, she’d fallen right back into a well of self-pity. And Oliver’s absence, of course, was something she felt even more keenly. Aurelia hadn’t been alone in the flat in ages, which made the fact that he was missing flash out at her like a neon light.
And so, when Biscuit started his ‘I’d like a walk now, please’ routine of pawing at her legs, Aurelia didn’t hesitate to get up. She wanted an escape, and a walk outside to clear her head and start figuring out how to fix things with Oliver seemed like just the thing.
38
Asshesteppedoutsidewith Biscuit, Aurelia noticed that the rain from earlier in the day had turned into an annoying mist. She’d hoped for an escape from her thoughts, but even the city streets—with their motors, bicycles, and pedestrians—felt lonely to her. The thoughts that plagued her in the empty flat were just as persistent outside of it, so that she found herself trying to inconspicuously wipe away tears as Biscuit trotted along ahead of her. Once again, she ran through what she might have done differently, what she might have said, and when she should have shared the part of her life that she’d kept from Oliver for so long.
But then something shifted, perhaps from of the frustration of having to brush the mist from her face and the tears from her eyes every few minutes as she walked, or perhaps from Biscuit pulling her over to sniff at the shopfront of a children’s shop with a window display of trick cards and magicians’ capes. Either way, Aurelia’s thoughts finally started running on a different track.
Oliver had said that she’d been wrong not to tell him about the magic of the shop, but hadn’t he proven her right by disbelieving her when she’d finally told him? It wasn’t until Antonia and Julia had confirmed Aurelia’s story that he’d begun to come around. He was angry with her for not telling him sooner, but couldn’t she be a bit angry with him for not believing her when she’d asked him to? Weren’t they both right in their own ways?
Yet he’d run off to find his space to think. Just like David had said, they were never going to work through this while apart. Wasn’t the whole point of choosing to get married that they’d chosen to be together? They were about to promise each other for better or worse. Why shouldn’t they start today—what would a few more weeks mean if it was a choice they’d made months ago when they’d proposed to one another?
Aurelia was walking faster now, keeping pace with Biscuit for once. She felt a fire in her belly born of anger, frustration, and—above all—passion. She loved this man she’d chosen, and she wasn’t about to sit back and wait for him to work something out on his own that they needed to work out together. She suddenly knew where he’d gone and directed her steps toward Jack’s flat. She was sure he would be miserable there, surrounded by Jack’s clutter and mess, but also suspected he’d chosen it as a sort of punishment, his own personal purgatory where he could do some wallowing of his own.
She grew more determined with each step. She wanted Oliver to come home, and she didn’t plan on returning there without him.
“Aurelia!” Jack exclaimed as he opened the door to find her dripping on his doorstep. She was certain she saw relief on his face, even as Biscuit began barking and leaping around his feet.
“He’s here, isn’t he?” she asked.
Jack looked behind him and then back at her and nodded.
“He won’t tell me what happened, but he’s miserable,” he said in a whisper. “What do you want me to do? Leave you to it?”
“I won’t kick you out of your own flat, but it might not be too pleasant for however long this takes.”
Aurelia didn’t make any effort to whisper—she wanted Oliver to hear her.
“I’m off, not to worry.” Jack grinned, pulling her inside and grabbing his coat. “I’d better come home to an empty flat,” he added as he kissed her cheek.
“I’m on it,” she said, giving him her first genuine smile since Oliver had left.
She undid Biscuit’s lead and watched as he raced down the hall, seeking out Oliver, whom he must have smelled or heard. Aurelia, meanwhile, heard nothing from within as she stripped off her coat and slipped off her shoes. She found a dry scarf of Jack’s on a peg and used it to wipe down her mist and tear-soaked face and hair, assuming he wouldn’t mind. Then she gathered in a deep breath and squared her shoulders as she strode down the hall and into the living room.
There was Oliver, standing near the sofa petting Biscuit, his packed suitcase at his feet. He raised his eyes to meet hers as she entered and she knew instantly that they would be alright.
The tension in her body released as she told him, “It’s time to come home.”
“I know it is,” he agreed.
She pushed on, wanting to be certain he understood her.
“There’s no working this out on your own.” She paused, emotion rising in her voice. “We made a choice to be together. I chose you and you chose me. That was a promise we made to each other and I’m sticking to it.”
“Me too,” he said.
