I went straight to Eustace's front door and hammered on it with everything I had.
The pounding echoed through the hallway like thunder.
Hurried footsteps scrambled inside, and the door swung open.
"Who the hell—it's the middle of the night!"
Sabina stood there in a pink apron, flour dusted across her forehead.
My eyes burned red in an instant.
Sabina and I had been together for ten years.
I'd watched her climb from a dirt-poor student to a respected professor.
The deepest scar she carried came from college, when she'd been working part-time in the campus dining hall to pay her tuition. A rich girl who was jealous of her had shown up with a posse, pinned her to the ground, and dumped leftover food all over her head.
"A kitchen rat like you thinks she can steal someone's boyfriend?"
After that, she despised cooking. Loathed it.
Even when we got engaged and I brought her home to meet my bedridden mother, all I asked was for her to help me carry the dishes out of the kitchen. She went stone-faced and slammed the door on her way out.
My dying mother was left sitting there, heartbroken on my behalf.
Even then, I forced a smile and made excuses for Sabina.