"I do love you!" Susan called out of the train window as it slowly pulled away.
"What?" Mark shouted back.
"I love you! Bye!"
And that had been it. No jumping off the train into his embrace, no promises of meeting again in a week – no nothing. Heck, he didn't even know where she would be staying. Deflated, he watched the train pull further and further away from Union Station until it passed the bend in the tunnel, and with a last glint of silver, existed no longer. He would sit there for another hour, but she wasn't on her way back.
Phoenix, Arizona, the land of sun. Susan smiled broadly as Chloe deposited little Susie into her arms.
"I've got a course that starts in 20 minutes, and I'm going out to later with some people from college. You'll be fine with her wont you?"
Susan smiled at the last sentence, as further proof Chloe would make it.
"I'll be fine, go, go. We'll just take a nice little walk down to the park, wont we Susie? And then we'll cook something yummy – do you need dinner Chloe?"
But Chloe had already zipped out the door. Susan placed Susie into her crib for an afternoon nap, and set about unpacking the rest of her suitcase. She couldn't believe it had only been 3 days since she had arrived. It already felt so much like home, as though she belonged here, with a family and some semblance of order.
"Aunt Susie better get all this unpacked, huh? Or else I wont have anything to use soon!"
Susan smiled indulgently as Susie gurgled happily under the cot mobile, moving her fingers as the shapes spun round. Susan turned and opened the 2nd last box. Cutlery – what was she thinking! Why did she drag plates and knives from County to Phoenix? Wondering wryly at her logic of forgetting to label boxes in her haste to pack, she re-sealed the lid of the box and promptly pushed it underneath her bed. Cutting open the tape on the last box with her keys, she hesitated for a moment as she opened the lid. The box of photos.
"Well, it's probably better to get it over with", she sighed resignedly, as she shuffled through the scrambled mess of photos she'd scooped up from her dresser table. It lay there in the top of the pile – the only photo they'd taken together. She felt the familiar breath catch in her throat as she looked closely into the picture. She'd done this so often before, back at her old home, and she'd never been sure what she was really looking for. They matched, complemented each other so well – there was no doubt about that. But that wasn't enough anymore.
She'd always loved him to some degree, but the timing had always been wrong – his wife, his divorce, Rachel, Chloe, decisions peppered in between. They had been far too rational all along, and had left it far too late. If he had asked her to stay in the moments she was making up her mind, straight after her holiday here – she might have considered it. If he had given her something to stay behind for, she would have considered not leaving. But them matching was something that she wanted to put behind her. Phoenix was a chance to start anew, and she wasn't going to let a picture they'd taken in a photo booth upset that. Heaving a sigh, she placed the photo underneath the albums and closed the box under her bed.