Mary didn’t pay attention to any of the joggers passing by. She was walking home through Central Park. It was still light outside. Mary was too caught up in her thoughts to enjoy it.

It was unusual for Mary to go home this early, but Karen had offered to close the store today. “I’ll do it with Lex,” she had said. “We have to get used to doing this without you!”

It had hurt Mary to leave. She knew Karen was right, though. Her last day at the store was approaching fast. She didn’t know if she was ready to leave it behind. She would have to, she knew.

Mary had been preparing for her departure all day. She had started writing down everything she knew about running the store.

It would be a useful document for Lex to fall back on once she was on her own. Mary trusted Lex to run the store competently, but why not make it a bit easier for her?

Mary had also discovered that it gave her some comfort to write to Lex. She liked the idea of Lex reading her words one day. She liked telling Lex things.

The writing had helped her cope with the sadness that had kept her chest tight all day. Seeing Lex back at work had cheered up at first, but had soon turned out to be a poisonous gift.

Lex’s eyes had only met Mary’s once during the short, professional conversation that they had had in the café early in the morning. Karen had been there too.

Later, while working in her office, Mary had hoped Lex would stop by to talk. Even if it was just about the weather! But Lex hadn’t. It had driven Mary up the walls.

She hadn’t allowed herself to come up with an excuse to call Lex in. It wouldn’t have been fair. She had been the one to end things between them after all.

She couldn’t send mixed signals now. That would be cruel. But it was just so hard to let Lex go, especially when she was so close. It was torture and it made everything feel so messy.

On the one hand, she couldn’t wait to start her new job. It would be easier to put some distance between them. On the other hand, she didn’t want to leave the store, or Lex.

“Fuck,” Mary muttered to herself and kicked at a pebble that lay on the path. It flew through the air and only barely missed a jogger.

“Hey, you!” someone yelled behind her.