She left

She left. She took everything.

It was a good morning, our neighbour came to help, and I actually enjoyed her presence. With the others, we took little breaks, chatting about nothing in particular. Box by box, the room emptied out until only the echo of it remained. We had coffee, the four of us, sitting there, chatting away.

Then they drove off.

I spent the rest of my day rearranging the living room. Yesterday I already cleaned and sorted things upstairs, then had dinner with friends. Today it was back to work, coming home to an empty house. Cooking for myself with Bill Evans playing softly through the Wi-Fi speaker. I opened a bottle of red wine to dull the sting. Well, not really, I don’t even keep wine in the house. I went down to the shop on the corner and got one from there.

Its just me now. Bill Evans on the piano, the loneliness, and that bittersweet ache that somehow makes life so beautiful.