Two people together, simple, straightforward. Charles supports this, of course. Let her shine. Besides, he reasons, it reflects well on him. S o Emily takes off while Charles stays put. He is, as I said, a writer.
You do what you do: field the emails, publish the posts, monitor traffic. The images are less erotic than he would have liked. The first is of her along the riverbank, a somber look on her face. On the back of this card, Emily regrets not being more thankful for the concert tickets Charles bought them last Christmas. T hey are, of course, doomed. Post-breakup he will understand it all as a roundabout plea for help, extending down to the lowercase e of her signature.
His email service hid the signatures after a certain amount of repeated sign-offs. Charles requests two weeks off to go and visit Emily after the residency. His supervisor, the harried managing editor, pushes back, noting their new time-off policy, so he offers to work some days from the Berlin office.
After all, she is a self-possessed, mostly independent woman. And he can save that time off for later. Could we speak tomorrow morning, over video, so we can see each other? L ater, lying in bed after their call, Charles will try to imagine how she is spending the rest of her day. Does your long-distance partner, after dumping you over video call:.
A call her mother B text some friends, or C hit up the new guy? And so on. He pictures Emily doing all three, then sobbing on the couch for a while before taking a deep breath and exiting the front door, leaving her phone behind, to clear her head.
