Chapter 11

• I looked at her, not understanding what she meant, and took the letter from her hands to read the few lines in a handwriting I knew perfectly, along with the date. It was written two months before everything went to hell, and by that time, I was living elsewhere in New York. After seeing me frozen with the sheet in my hands, Allison lit it on fire and left it in the sink as we watched it burn slowly.
• By the time my brother arrived, he almost instantly noticed that something was wrong. Allie had to explain to him what had happened in New York and the pile of ashes in the sink. In the end, they both decided to keep me company in an attempt to distract me, and as night fell, I changed more slowly than usual and lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling for a while until Jason arrived to stay by my side until I fell asleep.
• The next morning, after my brother insisted and even begged to take me to work because he still doubted that I was one hundred percent okay, after so much refusal, he finally gave in and let me go on the condition that I sent him messages from time to time to let him know I was okay. So I was at my desk organizing meetings and account papers while drinking the coffee that the third assistant had brought me, and at the same time, it was the third or fourth message I sent to my brother.