Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Ma'am?"

Mabel stepped in front of the TV, smiling brightly. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

That only made Jessica more suspicious.

She gently moved Mabel aside and glanced at the screen. The camera lingered on Timothy for a moment before cutting away.

The news shifted back to the anchor, who began introducing other stories.

Timothy didn't appear again.

Jessica checked the schedule: it was the morning news.

So Timothy had made headlines first thing in the morning.

Mabel let out a quiet sigh of relief. Jessica, meanwhile, grabbed her phone and began typing a message into her text-to-speech app.

"Mabel, did you block the TV because you saw Timothy with someone else?"

The app's gentle female voice rang out. Mabel, too flustered to wonder where the voice was coming from, immediately shook her head. "N-no, of course not!"

Jessica shot her a skeptical look.

just come from?"

the ring Jessica had

and smiled. "Ma'am, I never thought that ring could talk! With it, communication is so much easier for you. I heard

the subject, Mabel," Jessica pressed. "What exactly was on

gentle voice

worried you'd return his gift and Timothy would be upset, so he asked me to help keep it quiet. But now the ring's back on your finger, which means Henry must have

was a tangled

paper, covered

had gone in her

strong reaction

and Jessica simply couldn't convince herself not to

she really just imagining

get her anywhere. There was only one person who could give her

asked Mabel for her phone-she needed

use her own

going to

the master bedroom, settled into

picked up