Chapter 2

Dear Nazareth,

I've started doing this thing where I don't think about you.

It works for about ten minutes at a time.

Paris helps.

Paris is loud in a way that requires your full attention—the horns, the French I only half understand, the way everyone moves like they're perpetually late for something more important than wherever you're going.

I walk. I drink coffee at the wrong hours. I let Ian talk me into things I'd normally decline, like the wine bar on Tuesday which started out fun, then turned into a pathetic meltdown of how much I miss you.

Missing you is stupid.

I know it's stupid.

You’re not… we're not… there isn't even a word for what we are, and yet my body has apparently decided not to wait for a definition before it starts aching.

My chest does this thing in the evenings. This pressure, right in the center, like something's been sitting on it all day and I only notice when I stop.

I just want you to come back.

God, I hate that I just wrote that. I want to cross it out. I'm leaving it.

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