Page 79 of Piece By Piece

“You know, men sometimes have a hard time saying the things. They’d rather build you a house or bake you a cobbler or hide a message in a crossword.”

The bookstore went quiet around them.

The children’s section, the one Liza had rebuilt from nothing, with the new cushions and fresh paint, held her now like a pair of big warm arms.

Grant stood in his shop after Liza left and didn’t move for a very long time.

The little bell at the door had stopped ringing.

It was closed.

The owl cookie jar sat on the counter where she had set it down, and looking at it was almost too much to take.

She was right about everything.

The hiding, the silence, his pathological need to disappear rather than risk being hurt.

What a coward he was.

She had named the thing he had spent three years refusing to name, but she had done it without the cruelty, without the shouting, without anything but clarity.

“It’s what you do,” she’d said.

He walked to the back room and looked at Owen’s photo on the shelf.

The small fish, the big grin, the brother who had never once in his life chosen the safe option, the brother who had taken life with both hands and squeezed it.

Stop hiding behind the puzzles, little brother.

Grant sat on the floor in the back room, his back against the wall, and pressed his palms against his eyes.

He wasn’t crying; he was far too locked up for that, but the pressure behind his eyes was immense, and the silence was the wrong kind of silence.

Not the kind you choose, but the kind that’s left behind when someone walks away.

He thought about the crossword, the one that said STAY.

He’d given it to her days ago, but he meant it.

He meant every word, every clue, every letter he placed on that grid.

Then he’d done the very thing that the crossword didn’t say.

He’d started to leave.

The shop was dark.

The fairy lights were still on outside, connecting the building to hers, but he felt very disconnected.

He picked up his phone and stared at the Meridian email.

Then he stared at Liza’s name in his contacts.

He put his phone down.

Not yet, but soon.

He had to figure out the right words first.