And Ariel went on, throwing herself into as many hours at the dress shop as her manager would allow and in the evenings searching the internet fiercely for another job. Her savings was quickly depleting as the original intention of her job was to give her something to occupy her time. It had been a month since David left, and she hadn't yet told her parents. Ariel had a justification at every turn when she would glance at her phone out of the corner of her eye, and had convinced herself that so far, she was managing just fine. Since meeting David, the majority of her friends consisted of couples, and the last thing Ariel wanted to be around was that, and besides, she wasn't sure which ones he had already claimed. So, her days consisted of work and then obligation, with room for very little else. Occasionally she would step outside to walk up and down the hills surrounding the apartment, look at the burnt sky, and wonder what it would be like to be a cloud.
It was a Tuesday and the phone rang. It was her mother.
"Hey sweetie," her mom said gently.
"Hi, Mom."
"Haven't heard from you in a while...just checking in. How are you guys doing?"
"Um..we're not."
"What?"
"David's gone. He left. We split up."
"Oh, honey! What happened? Are you ok? Do you need some money?"
"I don't really want to go into it. I'm fine, though."
"But what happened? You've been together such a long time, people don't just leave without---"
"I told him to go. I wanted children, he didn't. End of story."
"Do you need a place to stay?"
"Mom, I'm fine. I've still got the apartment."
"But how are you supporting yourself working at that awful store?"
"I've picked up some more hours...and I'm looking for something else."
"You could always go back to school. You were such a talented writer."
"I studied Classical Literature, Mom."
"But you wrote such wonderful stories when you were younger.You could teach."
"I have to get back to my resume, Mom."
"Well, ok. But before I let you go, what are your plans for Sunday? You should come over for dinner. Your father's been talking about you, I think it'd be nice for all of to get together."
"Ok, sure. Is Gary going to be there?"
"I don't know, but we could invite him if you'd like."
"Yeah, that'd be good."
"Ok. See you then."
Gary was Ariel's older brother, whom she hadn't seen since the spring. He had recently moved back to the same neighborhood they grew up in after a long stint teaching in Lyon. They had always been close, and while their parents weren't the enemy, Ariel felt like having an ally at the dinner table. Gary also drank more since he came back from Europe, so the attention to her pending divorce had a sufficient chance of being minimal. Ariel looked at the new clock in her office. She had splurged and bought a twenty inch wall piece complete with whimsical Alice in Wonderland numerals and a hilly landscape background. And all it did was tell time.
