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Chapter 3

Leo perched on the edge of the couch cushion, not quite sitting back all the way as if he might have to run at any moment. He kept his hands on his knees and tried hard to keep his foot from tapping on the floor below him. He exhaled the breath he was pretty sure he had been holding in since he worked up the courage to ring the doorbell ten, no fifteen, minutes ago.

He glanced around the living room, looking for any traces of Stephanie – that black leather jacket she always wore, or maybe one of her thousands of scarves draped on the back of a chair, but it was spotless. His eyes caught a picture of her on the mantle with the blonde who answered the door – he was sure this had to be D.J. Stephanie had shown him pictures of her family some time ago. He recounted the numerous conversations they had had – often which turned into some form of an argument – about whether they should tell her family about them. Stephanie was adamant that her family didn't need to know anything "yet." He remembered the way she used the word as a sort of treat, keeping Leo hopeful that they would know eventually but not in the meantime.

Leo had grown up without much of a family. He was an only child of a single mom who passed away five years ago when he was twenty-three. He always wondered if his lack of a family growing up was what made him long for a family of his own. He imagined what it was like for Stephanie growing up in this house with sisters and aunts and uncles and was suddenly jealous of the life his wife had been allowed to lead.

He regretted telling D.J. that he was Stephanie's husband. Stephanie should have gotten to explain that, he thought. But he wasn't sure her sister would have taken him seriously if she didn't know who he was, and there was the tiniest hope in the back of Leo's mind that Steph had told them when she moved home – it was clear from the look on D.J.'s face that she had not.

He closed his eyes for a minute and tried to remember the sound of her voice. What had been the last thing she said to him? He couldn't remember. He had spent the better part of the last months replaying that last 24 hours together, looking for something – anything – to tip him off. But he never found anything. He knew things hadn't been amazing after they lost the baby; to say they were both hurting was an understatement. Stephanie had thrown herself into her work, and Leo figured that was just her way of dealing with the situation. Most mornings after his night shifts at the hospital, he'd head to the gym for a few hours taking out his frustrations and grief with treadmills and dumbbells.

Stephanie had been deejaying at a local club the night before, and he was ready to come home that Thursday morning and crawl in bed with his wife. He could distinctly remember that nagging thought as he opened the door to their loft – she's not here. And she wasn't. He could still feel the way his chest sank as he picked up the divorce papers off the kitchen table and hear the desperation in his voice as he read the two-line note telling him to sign and return the papers to the listed address. It was a sick joke, it had to be.

He walked around like a zombie those first weeks - or was it months? He checked every club in London, Southampton, and Paris. He went to all their normal spots. He called friends, but the consensus was the same; no one had seen her.

His pursuit became less aggressive – occasionally popping into a club on the weekend or running by their favorite deli for lunch – all with the same hopeful mindset that he would catch a glimpse of his wife, and he'd be able to convince her to come home. He had nearly given up when a headline on Sports Center caught his eye. Leo wasn't much of a sports fan; he was just trying to catch the score of the football match, but instead of seeing the score between Manchester United and Liverpool, he saw a familiar blonde breaking up with baseball player, Hunter Pence. He paused it and ran to the TV as if he could take her in his arms right then. Sure, he realized the fact that she was breaking up with a guy wasn't amazing, but he had found her! He could get answers, he could figure out what went wrong, he could try to win her back.

He ran for his laptop, desperately pounding the letters to spell out her name, and after months of no results, he finally was getting somewhere. She had played Coachella, and there in the background of one of the pictures was her old roommate Ashley. He searched the numbers on his phone, praying he hadn't deleted her number.

Ashley needed little convincing – maybe because it was 3:00 in the morning, and judging by her slurred tone she'd been drinking, but she rattled off Stephanie's address, and Leo was on the next flight out of London. It was hard to believe that was nearly twelve hours ago.

"Sorry about that," D.J. said as she came back in with a glass of water and a baby in her arms. "He woke up hungry."

Leo instinctively smiled at the young boy. "Thank you," he said as he took the glass of water. "I'm really sorry to just barge in," he began. "I imagine this is a bit of a shock for you."

"You could say that," D.J. smiled politely.

Leo smiled politely back. They both sat in the thick silence for a few minutes, both of them wanting to ask a million different questions, but neither of them wanting to without Stephanie.

"Is she happy?" He finally asked when he couldn't stand not knowing the answer to that question for one more minute.

D.J. shrugged apologetically, "She seems happy," she said. "But she's Steph. You never can really tell what she's thinking."

Leo nodded knowingly. Isn't that the truth, he thought.

Just then he heard a door open in the kitchen.

"That's her," D.J. said as she stood up. Leo followed suit. "It might be better if you wait here," she said looking back to him. "Just give me a minute with her."

He took a deep breath and nodded and watched as D.J. disappeared through the door separating the two rooms. This was it, he thought. After months of being more than 5,000 miles away, his wife was just in the other room. He prayed, more than anything he ever prayed for before, that this would be worth it.