His Wild Blue Air

Day 23

Today, though, she woke up with a strange feeling in her chest. She didn't know what it was. She stood at the banister, leaning against the railing and stared at her dog who seemed to have yet to notice her presence. For the first time, she noticed the state of sadness and longing in her dog. He was basically reflecting her emotions.

"Hey, buddy," she said lowly, but he could still hear her anyway because it was deadly quiet. Ethan leaving had left a new sense of quietness in her cabin that she never realized existed. She knelt and clapped her hands twice. "C'mere." Obediently, the dog bounded towards her until he was sitting between her knees. She smiled and scratched behind his ears, trying to ignore the look in his eyes. "I miss him too, buddy." So much.

After a few seconds of scratching, Dog ran away again to the door, this time looking at her expectantly. Skylar looked at the door before looking to the wooden door, looming with its heavy presence, reminding her of the man who had lived behind that door and how she had a story with him - despite how short it was. 

She then figured that maybe it was time. She stood up, brushed at the thighs of her pants before making slow steps towards the bedroom door. She didn't wait to open it because she knew that if she had waited even one second, she'd run away. She was a runner, after all.

His bed was made. Well, of course it was made. He hadn't slept in his room for quite some time. Wait, his bed? Fuck. She sighed and shook her head at herself. The wardrobe doors were thrown open, displaying an empty cavern of wood and nothing else; not even a hint of him having ever been here at all. She gently pulled the doors closed. 

**

"You read the letter from your uncle yet?" Emma asked. 

Her best friend had called the next morning after Ethan's flight. He was never mentioned in their thirty-minute long conversation. Emma was trying very hard to pretend this was just like any other conversation they had but Skylar could sense the underlying concern and apology. Skylar thought that two could act in this game.

She put the last plate in the dishwasher and turned it on. "No," she said with a resolute sigh. "I'm not going to read it."

Emma's disappointed sigh was sharply audible. "You know, I have him hogging me every day asking me if you've read that letter."

"My uncle does not hog people," Skylar retorted knowingly. She knew her uncle well even after five years. And a man doesn't change that easily. "Besides, there's no point in reading it."

"It'll probably change your mind about not coming back to 'Murica," Emma said hopefully.

"Ems, I'm not going back." She turned around, leaning her stomach against the counter, ignoring the slight ache. "This is my home now."

"You know what I think?" Skylar didn't know what, but something told her this would be the first time they brought up Ethan in a conversation. "I don't think it's your home anymore." Well, close. "You found another home in the last three weeks and more." Closer. "Stop lying to yourself."

"I go back to America and I do what?" Skylar demanded, suddenly feeling very irritated. "My whole life is here now. My friends, my brother, my dead son's fucking grave! They're all here! What would I do in America? So what if he takes me back? Am I going to be one of those girls who just sit there and wait for their partners to feed them?" If Emma wasn't going to say it, she was.

"A restaurant, Skylar!" Emma exclaimed. "Or, if you're more ambitious than that, you can even work as the Director of the IT Department in my company - or any company, for that matter - because we both know that we're both excellent at what we do."