"Um." In an infuriating moment, Jennifer couldn't look at her partner at all. The tears came to her eyes very quickly, tears of frustration and loneliness and loss, and she tried to hide it at first, but realized she couldn't ever hide anything from Charlie. Anybody else, maybe. But not Charlie.
"A long time." She squeaked it out. "He told me that he loved me, and then said that he wanted to marry me. Then, he broke up with me. And then he vanished."
Jennifer toyed with things on her desk, trying not to get so emotional. But she hadn't really talked about it, and again, this was Charlie. She couldn't not talk to him about anything. She'd been able to keep it in and not bring it up, but now he was asking directly.
"His number wasn't even in my phone anymore. I met his sister, after, but that hurts so much. She's so beautiful and everything that he said that she was. I think we're friends now, but I don't know if it hurts her as much to be near me, like it hurts me to be near her."
Everything was really spilling out. "He's just gone, and I ... I don't know what to do. I haven't been handling it very well, obviously."