Page 31 of Seven of Hearts

“Your room’s always open,” Will said.

I appreciated that about him. He and Kristin never called it a guest room. It was still my room, even if I rarely stayed in it.

“All right,” Bryan said. “I’m coming upstairs. Talk to you later, Logan.”

“Bye,” I mumbled. Will opened his mouth to say something now that it was just the two of us, but I ended the video call before he could get it out.

I knew exactly what he would ask about.

Leah.

I looked at the unsent text still lingering on my phone screen.

Logan:How are you feeling?

Leah had never respondedwhen I texted her a few days ago. What was even the point of sending it? It’s not like a text would make her less nauseous.

A knock on the office door startled me out of my thoughts. “Hey, Mr. Solomon. The rest of us are going out for drinks. You wanna join?” Jonathan, a new hire, said.

“No” was on the tip of my tongue, but I held back.

I never went for drinks with the team. I never went to lunch with them. I didn’t like eating at restaurants anyway. I packed my lunch every day. There was no need to spend time with them outside of these walls.

But my apartment had felt cold for the last week. I wasn’t exactly sure why. It had never felt empty before.

For the first time in a long time, I actually didn’t want to go home.

“Where are y’all going?” I asked as I closed my laptop and shoved it into my messenger bag.

“Rohan Tavern down the block. Good drinks. Half-decent food,” he said.

I shouldered my bag and slid my phone and that unsent text into my pocket. “Sure. I’ll come.”

“Sweet.” Jonathan craned his head back down the hallway. “Boss is in!”

There was a mildly amused cheer as I pushed my desk chair into my desk. I glanced around before turning off the light. There were no papers strewn about. No photos or mementos. Not even a clock on the wall.

My office was an extension of my apartment. It served a function, and that was that. It was a stark contrast to Leah’s...nest.

If I disappeared tomorrow, there would be no evidence that I had ever been here.

I said my goodbyes to the lingering staff and hurried down to the lobby and out into the crisp autumn air.

The smell of car exhaust made me miss the salt-stung breeze that floated around Will and Kristin’s house.

I shook off the notion, picked up my pace, and made my way down the sidewalk.

The Rohan Tavern was warm and dimly lit. My team had commandeered a cluster of high-top tables and pushed them together. Laughter bubbled up from the group as someone said something amusing.

“Boss man!” one of the new interns said as I neared.

I did a little wave and slid into the empty seat. “So, this is what you folks do after five o’clock.”

“Sometimes we go to shows. We’re going to a comedy club next week,” Paisley, one of the software developers, said as she touched up her lip gloss. “Want me to grab you a ticket?”

That sounded atrocious.

The conversation shifted to someone’s dating escapades, and the bartender stopped by to deliver drinks.

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