It startled me at first. I thought something was crawling up my leg and then I realized it was my cell phone vibrating in my pocket.I didn't answer th...e call. I didn't even try to get the phone out of my pocket. I just let it go until it stopped by itself. The whole tone of my mood changed after that. I tried not to think about Erica but I couldn't stop. When you love someone as much as I loved Erica, you can't just put them out of your mind. Especially when you are dealing with betrayal.. I tried 8326: August, third, two thousand and twenty six. The day she turned sixty two and the day we would both quit our jobs and retire. We had been dreaming of that day for a very long time. That was the day we would dedicate ourselves, not to the engineering firm that I worked for or the school she taught at, but to each other. We would travel, relax, and spend every waking moment together. It was our dream.It was also the correct password. As soon as the account opened, I saw the balance. Straining to hear, you might have heard him whisper the dog’s name, Benjamin, as a hymn and not just as a word.“I love you. I love you. I love you, my little friend,” the words softly sang. “Thank you, God, for my buddy.”The buzzing alarm awoke the man, and the memory of that beautiful morning faded, leaving him empty with loneliness. The apartment, still in the late evening, felt as vacant as his heart. The minutes ticked slowly on his bedside clock, reminding him of his hunger. In the. Henry and Bella had left the country only once in that time, a trip to Ontario and Niagara Falls in 2001. They went in July, before Arab terrorists declared war on the United States and devastated Lower Manhattan and a wedge of the Pentagon. It was time for another vacation, this time abroad, Henry thought: England, where he was born.“You know Dad was an airman,” he said, by way of starting the conversation. “He was stationed at RAF Menwith Hill first, where he met my mom--”“--and later at RAF.