"I sign a lease on Monday and move in on the first." She said to him. He took a deep breath, and they talked about splitting their assets in the storage unit. She had a week to get her things together for the move. He offered to help her get everything together. He spoke with her mother and her mother had agreed to let him stay in the house without her.
She stood in the middle of their storage unit going through books, making hard decisions. Childhood books stayed, newer ones were discarded. Was she really going to read Freaknomics? She had to be real with herself, as she only had 400 square feet to live in for the next year. She was going to have to do without a lot of things.
But it was him that wasn't doing well. "It feels so permanent, going through our stuff like this. This is really happening. I feel like we are over. Like this isn't a separation." He started to cry again. They hugged for awhile, then took their books to sell. They used the money for lunch.
While at lunch they talked about their state of affairs. They talked about friends they had, and about just telling people on a need-to-know-basis. They talked as they hadn't in years. It was nice, friendly, and weird.
It came up in conversation as to how extended the separation would go. She joked about their friends who have an open relationship. He asked if she was going to be seeing other people. She took a deep breath, and said that she wasn't going to seek it out, but not stop it if anything happens.
"You know me...I can't sleep with anyone that I have an intense emotional connection with. That takes a lot more time." She said to him. She told him if he wanted to get out there, not to worry about it. He asked wouldn't she be jealous if they got back together and it turned out he made out or slept with someone else. She said that this separation should be whole. If he needed to seek solace with someone else, he should be able to have that support system in place. She knew he wouldn't...but if he did, she did need to prepare herself. It would be hypocritical if she didn't allow him some happiness with someone else.
