The screen of my phone cast a harsh white glare against the dim lighting of the dining room. *Emergency meeting added. You eat first. Don't wait for me.* I read Julian's text three times and set the phone face down on the white tablecloth.
"Excuse me, miss?" The waiter stood beside the empty chair opposite me. "Would you like me to fire the appetizers now?"
"No, thank you," I said. "Let's wait a bit longer. But you can take that second glass of Cabernet back. I won't need it."
I turned my head toward the window. I booked this exact corner booth two weeks ago. Seven years ago to the day, Julian sat in that empty chair and nervous-laughed his way through our first date. Tonight, the seat remained empty.
At 8:40 PM, Julian hurried past the hostess stand and dropped his weight into the chair, loosening his silk tie with a sharp yank. "Total disaster," he announced, exhaling a heavy sigh. He didn't say hello. He didn't offer a single apology for the time. "The marketing team completely botched the Q3 projections. I had to sit there for an hour and a half while Davis tried to explain away a two-million-dollar deficit."
"That sounds stressful," I replied.
"It's entirely incompetent." Julian grabbed his napkin and snapped it open over his lap. "Did you order?"
"Yes. I ordered for both of us."
The waiter returned, balancing two plates of seared scallops and a heavy ribeye. Julian sliced into his steak immediately. "Good choice on the location, by the way," he mumbled between bites. "I haven't been here in ages. The food holds up."
I watched his jaw work. I watched him scan the dining room, his eyes passing over the exposed brick walls and the vintage chandeliers. No spark of recognition crossed his features.
"You don't recognize it?" I asked.
"Recognize what? The restaurant?" He chewed, swallowing before he answered. "Should I? Did we come here for a work dinner last year?"
I held his gaze. A week ago, I would have reminded him. I would have playfully nudged his foot under the table and told him it was our anniversary. Tonight, the silence felt safer.
"Nothing," I said, putting a scallop on my fork. "Just a place I heard about."
"Well, it's good." He checked his phone, tapping the screen. "We'll have to add it to the rotation."
We ate the rest of the meal in quiet intervals. He answered three emails. I drank my wine. He never asked what day it was. He never asked why I insisted on a window seat.
We slid into the backseat of a black town car. Before the driver even merged onto the avenue, Julian's phone buzzed. He pressed it to his ear. "Yeah, Davis. Tell me you fixed the formatting. No, that's not what we agreed on. The margins are off by three percent. Rerun the numbers."
He talked through the entire ride. He kept the phone pinned to his ear as we walked into our building, rode the elevator to the third floor, and unlocked the front door of our apartment.
Julian stepped into the entryway, turning his back to me to face the wall. "Listen to me, Davis. You have until tomorrow morning to correct this."
I stood in the hall, my coat still on. I reached into my handbag. My fingers brushed past my wallet and found the stiff edge of a folded piece of paper. It was a photocopied menu from this restaurant. Dated exactly seven years ago. I had kept it tucked in a scrapbook, planning to slide it across the table when dessert arrived, a tangible piece of our beginning.
I didn't unfold the menu. Instead, I walked past him and headed into the guest bedroom. The three clear plastic storage bins sat exactly where I left them. I walked over to the faded canvas tote bag resting near the stack of my folded sweaters. I slipped the old menu into the bag, pushing it all the way down to the very bottom, hiding it beneath my pink toothbrush.
Julian's voice echoed from the hallway, loud and irritated. He remained completely oblivious to the silence stretching out from this room. I stared at the canvas bag. I wanted to show him how much our history mattered. Now, it was just another secret packed away in a bag he would never bother to open. How many more times would I have to swallow my words before I finally disappeared?
