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"I will," I said. "I think the change of pace would do me a lot of good."
"The children will miss you, though," she said.
"I know. I'll miss them calling for my attention to the point it haunts my dreams," I sighed. "But this is going to be a good opportunity. I chose to become a travel nurse so I can help where I'm most needed. So, yeah, I need it."
"Perfect, I'll let Ethan know," she said. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," I said.
"Now go back to the kids," she said. "You've already promised them story time."
"Almost forgot.” I sighed and thanked her one more time before leaving to see the kids.
Even as I read stories to them, I still couldn't help thinking about what may have happened to Ben when he woke up, and I wasn't there. I was sure he didn't really care. But I hoped that he did, even if it was just a little.
*****
Ben
I woke up to strong rays of sunlight. I overslept, which wasn't like me. But considering all the energy I had expended the night before, it made sense that my body required a good shutdown to get things back in order. As I sat up, I felt like I was forgetting something.
I reached for my glasses at the bedside table and put them on, letting my vision adjust. There was a little blurry effect that the glasses helped adjust. I looked at my side and there was nothing… no one there.
I was confused. Something was meant to be there. Someone was meant to be there.
"Where's Olivia?" I asked no one in particular as I got out of bed.
I was still naked and found my clothes nearly folded and arranged, but she was nowhere to be found. I checked the bathroom, and it didn't seem all that different. She didn't have her bath. Did she go to get breakfast? No, food was served in bed.
Maybe she didn't know that. You could always call her. I thanked my inner thought and reach for my phone scrolling through my contacts when I realized that I hadn’t taken her number.
"Fuck you stupid inner thought," I cursed at my brain for being so stupid not to remember taking down her phone number.
I found a paper with a note inscribed:
Hey Ben
I'm sorry I had to disappear. But I decided to because it's the proper way to end a one nightstand.
Thank you for an amazing night. I only hope that I was able to return the favor of how good you made me feel.
Xo Xo, Olivia.
One night stand? What we had was just a one-night stand? Who decided that for her? I was pissed and upset with myself, for falling asleep. Why did my body choose that night of al nights to fall asleep? I dressed up and tried to go to the receptionist table. Fortunately, the man on duty the previous night was still the same man on duty. Nor was she at the venue used for the conference.
I felt like my heart was being ripped out forcefully. I spent that morning trying to describe her to as many people as I could, in hopes that I could find out that someone, anyone, knew something, but it was all dead ends. If not for the receptionist confirming that she left the hotel that morning, and the note she had left behind, I would have been okay thinking that she was a ghost or something.
Why did you have to do this to me? I asked myself as I collapsed into the bed. We had made love on that bed and everything seemed to be alright; we were in sync, and I thought that she would have felt it too.
It was frustrating. If I had taken a picture of her, I would have been able to find her. But unfortunately, it was the case. I thought about scouring the hospitals in London but gave up on it.
Maybe the universe just handed her over to me, just for that night to give me a reminding taste of what it meant to be in love with someone else.
I needed to go back to Richmond.
*****
The moment I returned to Richmond, I decided to stop by at my mother's place. I didn't have to go to the hospital that day, so visiting my daughter only made sense. The drive to Mom's was longer than I remembered it. As I looked out the window, I saw a lot of couples holding hands, being so “in love” that it made me think about Olivia.
