7. Genevieve

Genevieve ambled to the lounge, glancing at her watch. It was five to six, and Mia was never late. Just a few minutes, and her stupidly long day would suddenly look a lot brighter.

Genevieve spent the time going over pleasant memories in her head. Just a few days ago, she and Mia had gone to a sunflower farm. Mia had taken her camera and snapped some shots of Genevieve—naked in various poses among the flowers—before sitting down to paint. Genevieve idly picked up her phone and started scrolling through the photos.

Once Mia had all the shots she’d wanted, Genevieve had insisted on taking some of her, equally naked, just to be fair, of course. Fortunately, they’d had their clothes on by the time one of the gardeners came past, who had kindly obliged them by taking several photos of them together.

Genevieve smiled as she looked through pictures of her and Mia among the sunflowers. It had been a great date.

When she looked at the time again, she saw that it was ten past six. Genevieve frowned. Mia was never late.

She sent a quick text.

Hey, Mia, are we still on for tonight?

Genevieve waited a few minutes, but there was no response.

Mia, is everything ok?

Still nothing.

Please respond to this so that I know you’re alright.

When there was no response to that, Genevieve gave Mia a call. The phone rang and rang with no answer. Now, Genevieve was truly concerned. She called three more times before getting into her car. Maybe Mia was at home. She might be sick or hurt. Genevieve couldn’t think of anything else that would prevent Mia from at least telling her that she couldn’t make it.

Genevieve made it to Mia’s house in record time and rang the bell. Nothing.

She knocked on the door. “Mia? Mia, if you’re in there, say something, please. I’m really worried.”

The house was as silent as a tomb.

Fuck. This wasn’t good.

Genevieve tried not to panic as she drove to the police station, but she couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. If something had happened to Mia… Well, Genevieve didn’t know what she’d do without her.

Over the past few months, Mia had become central to her life. Genevieve’s work still fulfilled her, but there was nothing like coming home after a long day to Mia’s sweet smile and the floral scent of her perfume as she put her arms around Genevieve and asked how her day was.

There was no one immediately available at the station, so Genevieve grabbed the arm of a busy-looking officer walking past.

“Please, I need help. I think something has happened to my girlfriend.”

His expression immediately became serious. “Let’s sit over here. Tell me what happened.”

Genevieve allowed herself to be ushered into a chair, trying to remain calm. “She was supposed to meet me tonight at my place. She’s never late and she hardly ever cancels. When she does, she always lets me know at least a few hours beforehand. Tonight, she just never showed up. I called her and even went to her house, but there’s no one there.”

“When was the last time you spoke to her?”

“This morning. I was at her place last night and we had breakfast together before I headed off to work. She was going to spend the day at home, working on her paintings. I don’t know what could have happened. She could be sick or hurt or kidnapped—”

“Let’s try not to think the worst. Ninety percent of the time, these kinds of disappearances are nothing sinister. She may have simply forgotten her phone at home and gone out.”

“She wouldn’t forget that we had plans. She never forgets.”

“Everyone forgets sometimes. No one is perfect.”

“I’m not saying everyone is perfect,” Genevieve snapped. “I’m saying I know her. She wouldn’t forget.”

“I understand. I’ll have one of the officers check on her.”

“Can I come with? Please?”

“Absolutely not. We don’t allow civilians in the field. Don’t worry, they’ll call as soon as they know anything.”

Genevieve paced up and down the station, jumping every time the phone rang. Officer Williams, who was helping her, answered calmly each time, and each time, he shook his head at Genevieve. No news on Mia yet.

Another call came, and this time, Officer Williams sat up straighter. He beckoned Genevieve forward. Genevieve nearly tripped over her own feet in her hurry to get to him.

“I see. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay, thanks, Bryan. I’ll tell her.”

He hung up. Genevieve’s fingernails were digging painfully into her palms. “What happened? Where is she?”

“You can stop worrying, Genevieve. Mia is perfectly fine.”

“Fine? What do you mean? Where is she?”

“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say. What I can tell you is that she’s safe, and she has her phone with her. If she wants to contact you, she will.”

“That makes no sense. Why would she be somewhere else when she was supposed to meet me? Why would she not answer her phone if she’s not in some kind of trouble?”

“All I can say is that my colleagues have checked on her personally and assure me that she is fine. I can’t go interfering in relationship issues when no one is in danger.”

Genevieve wanted to scream and shake the answers out of him, but she still retained enough of her sanity to know that this would be a very bad idea.

“Please, could you have them ask her to call me?”

“They have already told her that you’re trying to get in touch. I’m afraid that’s all we can do.”

Genevieve stared dumbly at him. She felt like she might be going into shock. Mia didn’t want to talk to her?

That made no sense. Mia always came to Genevieve with her problems, just as Genevieve did with Mia. What could have happened to make it otherwise?

Genevieve sank heavily into a chair as memories of Kate bombarded her. This was exactly how things had ended with Kate. Just… nothing. No calls, no explanation, no contact.

Was history repeating itself?

A couple of hours ago, Genevieve would have said that was impossible, that Mia would never do that to her, but what was she supposed to think now? Officer Williams had confirmed that Mia was safe and free to contact her if she wanted to.

Had Genevieve done something? She frantically wracked her brain, going over their last couple of interactions. Mia hadn’t been acting oddly at all. Everything between them had been great, at least from Genevieve’s point of view.

She went home, half-expecting to see Mia on her doorstep with a bunch of flowers and an apology, but her driveway was depressingly empty.

Genevieve wandered inside, moving aimlessly from room to room. She didn’t know what to do. What did she do with her evenings before Mia? She could barely even remember a time before Mia.

Eventually, she decided to get an early night. Surely, Mia would contact her tomorrow.

Mia didn’t contact her the next day, or the one after, or even the one after that.

A week passed with complete radio silence. Genevieve’s initial dismay started curdling into hot anger. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She didn’t deserve to be treated this way. If Mia didn’t want to be with her anymore, then she at least owed Genevieve the decency of telling her so.

She had been right all along. Getting involved with Mia was a mistake. It was said that you attracted the same kinds of people in relationships. Well, Genevieve should have listened to that theory sooner. Not only did she seem to attract people who would leave, but people who would leave her without a word or any form of closure.

This was never going to happen again. Genevieve had been an idiot for letting Mia worm her way into her heart. She was just busy berating herself for exactly how stupid she had been when the doorbell rang.

Genevieve was still lost in her disgruntled thoughts as she opened it, expecting a delivery, and it took a moment for her to register what she was seeing.

Mia was there, standing right in front of her.

Genevieve swayed on her feet as she was bombarded by conflicting emotions. She didn’t know whether she wanted to scream at Mia or kiss her.

In the end, she did neither. Genevieve folded her arms tightly across her chest. “What are you doing here, Mia?”

“Please, Genevieve, can we talk?”

“If you wanted to talk to me, you should have done so a week ago. I’ve been worried sick about you. Did you know I went to the police? I thought you’d been kidnapped!”

Mia hung her head. “I know. I’m so sorry, Genevieve. I understand if you can’t forgive me, but please, could you at least allow me the opportunity to explain?”

Genevieve was sorely tempted to slam the door in Mia’s face, but Mia looked so distraught that she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her dark hair was up in a messy bun, her big green eyes looked like they had been crying.

“Fine.”

Mia had better have a fucking good explanation for this, or Genevieve was going to revisit the kicking her out and slamming the door in her face idea.

Mia fiddled with her hands as she sat on the couch opposite Genevieve. “I told you about my stepfather, but I never really talked much about my mother.”

This wasn’t the direction she had expected the conversation to go in. “That’s right,” Genevieve said guardedly. “What of it?”

“Well, my mother was never abusive, but she sat by and let the abuse happen to and around her, which is almost as bad when there’s a child suffering that abuse with you. I begged her to get rid Harold, but she insisted that he would change his ways, that he was trying. I resent her almost as much as I do him for what I went through.”

“That makes sense. She was your mother. She should have protected you.”

“Harold died last week,” Mia said quietly. “The first thing my mother did was get on a plane and come to find me. I never even knew that she knew where I was, but apparently, she found me through my work. Anyway, she came to tell me about Harold, as if him dying would make everything okay and we could pick up back where we left off.”

Mia’s face twisted in anger. “I told her to fuck off, but she won’t leave me be. She’s selfish and she doesn’t want to be alone. She’s rented a house in the city and she keeps hounding me, trying to convince me that I’m the selfish one and that my childhood wasn’t nearly as bad as I make it out to be.”

Genevieve felt an entirely new type of anger flare in her gut. “So get a restraining order. I know some good lawyers, I can refer you.”

“It’s no good. I’ve already spoken to a lawyer, but since she’s made no threat on my life, there isn’t anything the police will be able to do at this point. I just need to stick it out. She’ll get bored eventually. She doesn’t handle rejection well, and when it becomes apparent that she’s not going to get what she wants out of me, she’ll move on—probably to the first abusive jerk who’ll take her.”

“Mia… I’m so sorry.” Genevieve felt like a real jerk for having the thoughts she’d been having about Mia. She should have known better. She should have known that Mia wouldn’t disappear like she had unless she was dealing with something really awful. “You should have spoken to me. I could have helped.”

“Genevieve… please don’t be angry, but… I think this is something I need to deal with myself. I don’t want to drag you into this. I’ve booked an appointment with a therapist for next week. I’m going to try to work through my trauma and deal with this situation with my mom. I don’t feel like I can fairly do that while maintaining a relationship. I don’t want you to become my carer. I don’t think that is fair on you and it isn’t how I want things to be… I… I have to end things between us.” Mia was crying now. Big tears running down her beautiful face.

Genevieve felt like she’d been hit in the chest with a block of ice. She had already suspected that her relationship with Mia was over, but to hear it stated so plainly was shattering.

She wanted to beg Mia to rethink, to stay, but she respected her too much to do that. Genevieve wanted Mia to do what was best for her and would never try to convince her to put anyone else’s wellbeing above her own.

“Are you sure this is what you want, Mia?”

“I’m sure that it’s what I need to do.”

Genevieve held back her tears. There was no reason to make this any harder for Mia than it needed to be. If she begged for Mia to stay with her, maybe Mia would, but Genevieve would never ask Mia to do that when it wasn’t what she needed.

“I understand, Mia. I wish you would stay, but if you feel you can’t, I’ll support you, and I’ll be here. I’ll wait for you. Whenever you’re ready… I’m here.”

Mia was already shaking her head. “Please, don’t do that. I’m not sure if or when I’ll be ready for a relationship. I don’t want you to put your life on hold for me.”

You are my life. I don’t want anyone except you.

But Genevieve couldn’t say that. This was hard enough for Mia as it was.

“Alright, Mia. I hear you.”

She certainly wasn’t going to promise not to move on with her life, but she didn’t need to spell out exactly how crippled she would be without Mia.

Mia blinked a few times, tears escaping from the corners of her eyes. “I guess I should go, then.”

I love you.

Genevieve battled to keep those words trapped behind her lips. They wouldn’t help and would only cause more hurt to both of them.

She wanted to ask Mia to stay just a little longer—she wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet. But that would only get more and more difficult the longer Mia stayed, so Genevieve got up and walked robotically to the door. Mia followed her in silence.

It felt so wrong. Genevieve watched as Mia walked past her. Neither of them touched. Genevieve had never had many nightmares, but she certainly felt like she was in one now.

“Goodbye, Genevieve.”

No, she wasn’t ready. She would never be ready to say goodbye to Mia.

“Goodbye, Mia.” Genevieve lost her battle to tears just as Mia turned away. She quickly closed her door and pressed her back to it, letting herself slide down to the floor.

She felt like she was in a nightmare, and she didn’t know how to wake up.