Ficlets

Moving On

The first week was the hardest. It took a day before Nina could sleep through the whole night. It took two for her to stop bursting into tears at the slightest reminder of Charlotte. It took a whole week before she could stop reaching for her cell phone at work, wanting to send Charlotte a text message about something funny she’d seen or heard. It would take longer to get over the sadness of Charlotte’s passing, she knew, but for now it was hard enough getting through that first week.

The second week was better. Nina began caring about her appearance again, making sure her hair and makeup were in place. She returned her friends’ phone calls, replied to invitations and opened her bills. Life was moving on whether she wanted it to or not.

On the Wednesday three weeks after Charlotte’s funeral, Nina got home from work just as her phone was ringing. Pulling off her heels as she entered, she let the machine pick it up.

“Hey, it’s Nina. Leave a message at the beep!”

“Hello, Nina, it’s me, Jake. Are you there?”

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