Hannah slept in later than usual on Sunday, and it wasn't until after noon that she finally managed to roll herself out of bed. Despite the fact that she was still mulling over the events of Wednesday night - she'd never felt the way she did the next morning - things didn't seem to be going too badly, considering the building she lived in belonged in a science-fiction novel.
She never would have noticed the letter until much later if it wasn't for Gabriel, who spotted the envelope and nosed it along the floor, thinking it was some sort of new toy. She frowned at it, wondering if it was some sort of survey to do with that tribunal thing, and she opened it without the faintest suspicion of what it might hold. The meaning of the words didn't sink in the first time she read it, but once she went back to the start and read it again, something within her mind clicked.
Oh. It was a quiet realization, like a soft sigh, and she leaned against the counter without noticing it. Boyd hadn't given any indication that she planned on leaving, yet the shock wasn't as great as it should have been. A small part of her understood why she might have wanted to leave, and her mention of things going badly with Shane last week was just one clue of many. No amount of understanding, however, could change the fact that she was going to miss her friend terribly; nor could it keep back her tears.