The next morning came earlier than Tallie wanted but she was opening the store and no matter how she felt, she refused to let it interfere with doing a good job with her dad's store. She pulled herself out of bed with just enough time to throw on clothes, put her hair in a ponytail, and grabbed a scone on the way out of the house.

She took her phone but it left off, not ready to face whatever messages Case had left her. She only had time to say "hi" and "bye" to her parents and was grateful for that. If she talked to them it wouldn't take long for them to mention Case and she didn't know what she would say. 

The streets were quiet as she walked to the store. She tried not to think about Case but it was where she always ended up, their fight playing on repeat.

When she entered the main square, she headed towards Oaks but stopped halfway there, unsure she wanted to face all the regulars. She felt like all the pain from her fight with Case was written across her forehead and it would bring questions and curious looks. She wanted coffee, but she wanted her privacy more, so she changed directions and went straight to the store. 

Unlocking the door, she set about her routine, turning on lights, taking off her coat, and leaving her things in the backroom, picking what music to play over the speakers. The familiarity of it kept her brain from thinking about Case, and she was disappointed the distraction was over fifteen minutes later as she flipped the Closed sign to Open. 

Even though the mornings at the store were usually slow, she was always good and finding productive things to fill her time. The sheet music needed regular organization, and supplies needed to be check and ordered, but she didn't feel like doing anything.

She sat on the barstool behind the check out counter and listened to the melancholy Christmas music she had put on. But three songs in she regretted her choice. She changed it to pop Christmas songs, but the cheeriness felt false.

She was on her seventh music choice when the first customer arrived. She looked up, feeling a rush of hope that only turned to disappointment when she saw it wasn't Case. She realized that despite their fight she had unconsciously been waiting for him to show up. He had every morning she had been at work since he had been back in Holly Oaks.

She tried to bury her disappointment as she helped the customer. She was grateful for the distraction they provided but they were gone too soon and she was left alone with her music again. 

She looked across the square to the glowing windows of Oaks and thought about taking an early coffee break, but she didn't want everyone seeing her in her miserable state.

Only yesterday, Case and she had been bold with their affection for each other and there was no doubt the news had spread throughout the whole town. Everyone would be expecting her to have the bright cheery glow a new relationship brings, and when they saw anything less they would suspect something was wrong. 

This was the flip-side of the love and community you got in a small town: everyone knew everything about you. Growing up in Holly Oaks Tallie had never known anything else.

At times it annoyed her that everything about her life felt like it belonged to the town and not just her, but she had learned it wasn't going to change. Holly Oaks had been that way when her mom was a kid and it would continue to be that way, so she became more aware of what she shared and this was something she didn't want to share. 

She knew people would find out about her fight with Case, that was inevitable, but if she could delay that happening by not getting coffee, then she wouldn't get coffee. So she resorted to finding a distraction and started organizing the records. But after coming across some of her and Case's favorite albums from high school, she gave up and returned to moping on the stool. 

A part of her felt justified in everything she had said to Case the night before. He had no right to judge her life and give his opinion. Another part of her couldn't stop seeing the confusion and hurt on his face and she felt guilty for being the cause and would wonder if she had overreacted.

But every time she leaned that way, the self-righteous part of her brain reminded her of all the heartache and hardship she had faced in the last two years. Even though she had opened up to Case about some of the struggles she had faced, nothing she could tell him in two days could compare to what she had dealt with in two years. 

Thus the circle continued until she hit eleven o'clock and decided she didn't care who was at Oaks, she needed to get out of the store and get coffee.

She quickly pulled on her coat, eager for any distraction from her exhausting thoughts. She put up the "back in ten" sign and walked quickly across the square to Oaks. 

Tallie didn't have to wait long for her coffee, there was no line of morning coffee drinkers she was contending with. There were only two people seeking peace as they read their newspapers.

With her coffee in hand, Tallie was almost at the door when Case's mom entered Oaks with a friend. Tallie froze, wishing she could avoid the interaction but there was nowhere for her to go. 

"Tallie, what a wonderful surprise!" Mrs. Shepherd said. 

"Hi," Tallie said. Judging by the smile on Mrs. Shepherd's face, Tallie guessed she didn't know about her fight with Case. Tallie tried to make her smile brighter. If Case hadn't told his mom then she didn't want to tell her either. 

"Taking a little coffee break from the store?" Mrs. Shepherd asked. 

Tallie nodded and held up her cup.

"Carrie and I are warming up after our walk," Mrs. Shepherd said, motioning to the woman beside her. "We were out enjoying all the fresh snow. Christmas time is so magical." 

Tallie nodded, even though the Christmas magic now felt like a distant memory. "It's a special time," she said, feeling her throat tighten as she forced the words out. 

"It is," Mrs. Shepherd agreed. 

"Well, I should get back to the store," Tallie said, trying to leave the conversation before Mrs. Shepherd had a chance to bring up Case. 

"Of course. I don't want to keep you," Mrs. Shepherd said. "Besides, I've been so lucky to see so much of you lately." She gave Tallie's arm a friendly squeeze. "Please know, even though Case is gone, you are welcome at our house any time."

Tallie's chest tightened hearing Case's name and it made her desperate to leave. She started to give a non-committal response, anything to end the conversation but stopped when she understood what Mrs. Shepherd said. She frowned.

"What do you mean Case is gone?"

"He left for New York this morning," Mrs. Shepherd said as if that had always been his plan. 

"But....but..." Tallie groped for the words but nothing came. He was gone? A new rush of disappointment swept over Tallie and she almost got lost in it until she remembered who she was with.

She didn't want to lose it in front of Case's mom. She tried to pull herself together enough to force a smile, but when she looked at Mrs. Shepherd, Tallie could see the confusion than understanding settle in her gaze. 

"Carrie," Mrs. Shepherd turned to the woman with her. "Would you order for me?" Carrie nodded and Mrs. Shepherd moved closer to Tallie as Carrie walked to the counter. "You didn't know he left this morning?"

All Tallie could do was shake her head. 

"But I thought...." Mrs. Shepherd started. "It surprised us too, but his dad was going to Stamford today so it made sense for him to catch a ride." She studied Tallie. "He seemed down but I thought that was because...he was leaving you."

Tallie shook her head again. 

"Tallie, I'm sorry I was the one to tell you."

Suddenly, Tallie had to move. She could feel the tears starting form and the last thing she wanted to do was cry in Oaks in front of Mrs. Shepherd.

"I gotta..." she mumbled as she moved around Mrs. Shepherd and opened the door. 

"Tallie..." Mrs. Shepherd called after her, but it didn't stop Tallie. 

She waved, trying to convey that she wasn't upset with Mrs. Shepherd, but she couldn't stay in Oaks any longer. Case was gone. Her mind was reeling as she blindly made her way across the square to the music store. Why had he left? She left the "back in ten" sign up and locked the door after she entered. She was in no place to deal with customers. 

Once hidden in the back room of the music store, she crumpled to the floor and let the tears come. No matter how upset she had been with him the night before, she never doubted that they would work it out. They had been friends for too long. They had fought all the time but always made it through. 

But as she remembered all the fights, she also remembered that running away was what Case did. She would get loud and say things she didn't mean and he would go quiet and run away. After some of the fights they hadn't talked for a week, but they had always come back, said their peace, apologized for the wrong, and moved on. 

Back then, his running away had meant going to his parent's house. He was only ever a few blocks away. This time, he had run all the way back to New York. She didn't need to be a detective to figure out what he was trying to tell her. Whatever they had had was over. 

She only let herself cry for a few minutes before she picked herself up off the floor. She could deal with it later, and she didn't want the store to be closed for long. She splashed cold water on her face and hoped the redness would go away before the next customer arrived. She unlocked the door, put on cheery Christmas music, and started organizing music to keep herself busy. 

Something about the mundane task of organizing music gave her brain just enough space to work through her emotions in the background.

It was hard to accept, but the more she thought about what had happened, the more peace she found. Case's decision was clear cut. He did leave any room for doubt. He had gone back to New York to resume his life there, and she could do the same in Holly Oaks. She could wrap up their time together like she would the ornaments on her Christmas tree and box it away with all the other Christmas things. 

By the time Lauren showed up in the late afternoon to take over at the store, the chaos of emotions Tallie had felt had calmed down. She knew it would be lovely to be able to turn the page and never deal with them again, but she wasn't naive enough to think that could be true. The last two years had taught her that emotions hold the right to come and go and you can't fight them or run away from them. The only way to through with emotions was to let yourself feel them. 

So it didn't surprise her that the peace she felt on the walk home was disrupted when she turned into her front walk and sadness hit when she realized that her parents wouldn't get any more time with Case. He had cheered up her dad and been a good company to her parents. But somewhere in the mix of emotions, she found gratitude for the time he had spent with her parents and the cheer he had brought on Christmas.

It was that gratitude that got Tallie through facing her parents. She was quiet as she listened to them talk about the walk they had taken and how they had stopped by Soup on the Square themselves to pick up dinner, and she managed to keep her focus on them and not let her thoughts stray to Case. But when they wanted to hear about her dad, she kept the report short and used exhaustion from all the holiday events as an excuse to go to bed early. 

As she climbed the stairs to her room, she could hear her parents laughing over something her dad had said and smiled, grateful she had contained her emotions so they hadn't affected them. She pulled her sweater off and as it landed with a thud, she realized her phone was still in the pocket. She pulled it out and stared at it as she sat on her bed. 

A part of her never wanted to turn it back on so she never had to hear and read the messages Case had left her. But a part of her wanted to turn it on, to know whether he had given her any warning about leaving or if he had run away without saying a word. 

In the end, she held down the power button and watched as the screen lit up. She could feel her chest tighten with anxiety as she waited for the phone to power up, suddenly scared she wouldn't have a single message. Maybe after the first two calls, he had given up on her. But that was quickly put to rest when her phone buzzed with thirty text messages and four voicemails.

Before she could think about it too much, she opened her text messages. A few were from other people, but most of them were from Case. Most of them were apologies but she could tell that he didn't even know what he was apologizing for. 

She clicked over to his voicemails, but the moment she heard his voice, she turned it off. There was such a deep sadness in his voice, it was too much. She knew she was the one responsible for his sadness. It felt like the weight of their fight doubled and she put her phone down and pulled her blankets over her. She couldn't bear to hear any more.

————————————————————
😱 Case is gone??!?!!?!?!?
😢what happened to wedding bells on New Years?
😭Are they over for good? And now every year they will have to avoid each other when he comes home? And it will be so awkward and they will forever be emotionally scarred?
🙄 Or am I just being dramatic?