The email comes in while you’re making coffee.
You see who it’s from and put your phone down. Not before coffee.
You make toast. There are crumbs all over the counter, so you wipe them up. The trash is full. You take it out.
When you come back, you remember the email.
You check the weather instead.
Around eleven, you sit down to answer a couple of messages. The email is right there. Still unread.
You answer three others. Delete some junk. Unsubscribe from something you don’t remember subscribing to.
You get up to pee.
By lunchtime, you’re annoyed with yourself.
Just open the fucking thing.
You pick up your phone. Someone has sent you a video. You watch it.
Then another.
At three, you finally open the email.
You read the first paragraph.
Your stomach drops.
You close it.
Fuck.
You knew you shouldn’t have opened it.