Casey roamed the empty hallway leading to the master room, the framed photos of him and Sarah feeling like ancient relics; pieces of history, to be looked back upon, yet never revisited, gone before they were ever truly appreciated.

Reminiscing felt forbidden under the circumstances. Missing old times felt downright obscene, but there he was. Was he allowed to miss their wedding day, when they both stumbled down the aisle drunk to piss off Sarah’s parents? To miss them sitting together at his piano, learning their favorite duets? All the shows they played together -- all the tours they travelled on together?

Even further, was he allowed to miss everything that wasn’t pictured? The way she smirked and rolled her eyes every time he made an off-color comment, or how she strutted down the hallway when she wanted to show off her new outfits. The way she cared for Savannah. The way she had once cared for him.

The front door clicked open, and Casey realized he’d been standing around way too long. It was too late to prevent coming face-to-face with her, the sliver of hope that Sarah might just pass him by without a word snatched from him in an instant.

“Sorry, I thought you’d be out by now.” Her voice was horse from yelling, face still red and irritated.

His chest ached at the sight of her. Casey didn’t know who he was if not Sarah Hudson-Caverly’s husband. He didn’t know what to do if not take her in his arms and comfort her until the tears stopped, but what was the protocol when he was the one who caused them? What was the protocol when they had become two entirely different people?

Shaking his head, Casey went back to looking over the wall. “So did I.”

“Well good, I can give this back to you.” Sarah pulled her wedding ring off her finger and held it out to him. “Take any pictures you want too.”

Casey stared at her, then shook his head. “I don’t want the ring.”

“Well, I also don’t want it, so you might as well take it. Give it to Christian or something, I’m sure he could pull it off.”

Casey rolled his eyes. “Sarah --.”

“Can I just know something?” She started fumbling with the ring, passing it back and forth between hands, sliding it on and off. “How long was that going on?”

Casey turned away. “Look, I don’t --.”

“No, I think I deserve to know,” Sarah snapped. “I deserve to know how long you were saying you loved me while you were with someone else.”

She was right, though Casey didn’t want to admit it, neither to her or himself. He exhaled a sigh through his nose. “Since last Spring.”

Sarah lowered her head, nodding. “So not that long after Amelia.”

“Does it matter right now?”

“I guess I just don’t understand why you couldn’t let me go first. It f***ing hurts enough having someone picked over you, but a year, Case? You guys were rolling around touring together, and I was here looking like a total idiot. How many people knew and just let me be in the dark?”

“No one knew. Look, I’m not gonna do this.” Casey stepped in a bit closer, his arms folded over his chest. “There’s no point when I’m literally here packing my crap to go.”

“So there’s no hope for us, huh?” Sarah looked over the wall. Casey traced her gaze to a multi-photo frame with their wedding photos. One where they were happy and smiling, another of them standing with their wedding party, both covering their faces with their hands, and one more of them falling down drunk in the middle of the aisle just after the ceremony. That was all gone. Recorded like a page in a history book. “Casey?” Sarah demanded.

“Sorry…” Casey tried to swallow the lump in his throat to no avail. He couldn’t even breathe past it, much less speak past it. “I don’t think so.”

Sarah scoffed a little and then started to walk past him, brushing his shoulder on the way by. “I’ll let you finish packing. I want the wedding one, my parents gave that to me.”

“Sure.”

“And if you don’t take the ring, it’s going right in the trash.”

“I know.”

Halfway down the hall, she paused one last time. “You know, I’d have stuck by you, Casey.”

Casey rolled his eyes, walking off to the living room where his cluster of boxes had been started. “I’ll be out as fast as I can.”