December in my hometown felt different.Finding an apartment took time.
Rain tapped on the windows every morning instead of stopping. Work friendships started slow - then grew without notice. Three months passed like that. My life settled into Westwood, into lab reports, into bus stops under wet trees. Seattle stayed gray most days. A new kind of regular formed around coffee cups and data charts.
Twice, Daniel and I met for coffee. Quiet moments. Respectful exchanges. Questions came up - mine about his classes, his about my work. Not once did we mention what wasn't there. Silence filled the space where a story might have been.
Midway through my second cup, it hit me - I wasn't feeling a thing. Not excitement. Not desire. Not even curiosity about how things might've been.
Just closure.
Home again, things didn't fit right. That old room - shrunk somehow. While I kept changing, school stayed still. Not one café tasted like before.
Perhaps it wasn't like that for me.
