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“Have we broken up?” Naomi asked She squeezed his hand

“No, of course not”

“Then thank you for trusting h to let me handle this on my own”

“Is that what I just said?” Holden asked

“Yeah, pretty much” Naomi stood up She had a packed duffel on the floor next to her chair that Holden hadn’t seen “I’ll be in touch when I can, but if I can’t, don’t read anything into it Okay?”

“Okay,” Holden replied The whole scene had taken on a vaguely drea her olive-green duffel bag, seeer than it was, or else Holden had shrunk He stood up too, and vertigo made him dizzy

Naomi dropped the duffel on the table and wrapped both arainst his forehead when she whispered, “I’ll be back I promise”

“Okay,” he said again His brain had lost the ability to form any other words

After one last tight squeeze, she picked up her bag and walked to the door

“Wait!” he said

She looked back

“I love you”

“I love you too,” she said, and then was gone

Holden sat back down, because it was that or sink to the floor He finally pulled himself out of the chair a minute or an hour later; it was hard to tell He had almost called Amos to join hione too

Everyone was