closed starter for @bashlandry location: lily’s porch, goldfinch valley
It felt like something out of a romance novel: a woman with a glass of wine in one hand, the other holding a pen to the pages of a journal as she sat on the sofa while the sun shone through the windows. Lily had recently taken up journaling, an old hobby she’d abandoned in grad school. One corgi curled up at her feet and the other on her lap, she felt truly at peace for the first time in weeks. A ring of the doorbell alerted her and the dogs to the door, who could if have been? Lily wasn’t expecting any deliveries, and Matheus wasn’t supposed to meet her until the next day. Cautiously checking the cameras to see who it was, her heart sped up in her chest as she saw Bash Landry standing on her porch.
Hey, I hope you’re doing well. I put together a box with your stuff that’s still at my place, I can leave it by Ravi if you want to collect it there or you can let me know if you want someone to get it from my home or office. Just let me know so we can make arrangements. Thanks, Bash.
That was the last text she had sent, no response had been received from him. Not until she looked through the peephole and saw him standing there on her porch. Was he as nervous as she had been? That was why she’d suggested that someone else facilitate the exchange of belongings between the former lovers, but it seemed like Bash wanted to get it over and done with. “One minute,” she called out, quickly running upstairs and retrieving the light box of Bash’s clothing and other items that he’d left at her place. Making her way downstairs, the woman inhaled before opening the door, the sight of him in front of her rendering her speechless. How had he been? Was he seeing someone new like she was? Most importantly, was he happy?
Instead of asking the questions, Lily hastily pushed the box into his hands, letting go and stepping back to put some space between them. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you still ignore texts,” the woman joked dryly with a shrug. How could she both have so much she wanted to say to him, yet not want to say anything more? “I think I got everything in there, thanks for coming by...” the sentence trailed off, with her unsure of what else to say. The wounds from their breakup were still fresh; she may have been the one to cut ties, but she would argue that Bash placed the scissors in her hands. It was just their time to go their separate ways - so why did it hurt so much?
“Did you take an Uber?” Lily asked, not seeing a waiting car within their vicinity nor Bash’s trademark motorcycle. “You’re welcome to wait on the porch for your ride, if you want...” she trailed off, the polite hostess inside of her having been conditioned to invite him inside. But her home was her safe space, and Bash was no longer someone she wanted to have a presence within that. Nodding with a tight-lipped smile and squaring her shoulder, Lily turned and was about to head back inside, assuming that Bash would be fine for five minutes on his own.