Alone! The word screamed across her mind like a flashing billboard. After five years of waking up with someone she was now lying in an empty bed, surrounded by a half empty bookcase, half filled drawers in her dresser, and an empty counter next to her sink that used to be crowded with shaving cream and colognes. The smell of his green, grassy fragranced soap no longer lingered on her pillows. The closet was still barren where his clothes used to hang. She knew she should have claimed full ownership of the empty spaces by now, but deep down she was hoping he would change his mind and come back. But as she played the breakup over and over in her head that evening he told her, she knew he had already detached from her.

“I love you, Jane. You are a wonderful woman. Any man would be lucky to have you. I have been lucky to have you.” Is what he said, pausing before he continued.

He then took Jane’s hand in his and looked at her with his ocean blue eyes and baby long lashes. Jane had always felt warmth when she gazed into Stephen’s eyes. They were usually kind and loving and he used them to his advantage when he wanted to make love to her. But that night it was not desire that he was emanating as she peered into them. They looked empty. Jane shivered with the anticipation of what was to come next.