*ONE MONTH LATER*

I stood at the stove stirring a pot of sauce. The cheese wasn't melting the way I wanted it to, and I worried it might burn. Just one more thing to stress about.

Maybe butter would help. I cut a little square off the stick and dropped it into the pot. Absent-mindedly, I stared around the apartment. It looked depressingly empty.

I hadn't realized how much of the art on the walls and the little knick-knacks that decorated the shelves had been ...