Miami gave him quiet days but loud nights in his head

The first week away from New York felt like hiding The second week felt like healing The third week felt like the start of something new and that scared him because new things always felt fragile

He kept trading but not the way he used to No more revenge trades No more I have to win back what I lost right now moves He only took small positions He only traded what made sense He closed early instead of being greedy Sometimes he was green Sometimes he was flat Once in a while he was red but not destroyed He was learning to walk again slow and steady

During the day he walked the shoreline barefoot The air in Miami was warm and thick and sometimes it tasted like salt on his tongue He watched the color of the water change through the afternoon like the mood of a person He liked that It made the world feel honest

But at night the quiet felt too open and he felt the ache of distance

Sometimes he picked up his phone and typed a message to Sophie then erased it He did not want to bother her if she was stressed He did not want to make things harder for her at work Sometimes he waited for her to text him first Sometimes she did Sometimes she did not

Then one night instead of texting she sent him an email

The subject line said simply Hi

He opened it fast

Hi Ethan
I know calling you is risky during work hours and you know how my manager likes to walk past my desk when I am on the phone so I am writing you instead This is safer for me I think email is still boring enough that no one reads it unless it is a problem

I wanted to tell you I am okay You do not have to worry about me HR did not call me in Nobody asked me questions They moved on and now most of the drama is about some other person who yelled at a rep and threatened to sue so I am not the shiny object anymore which is good

Also I miss you

Please do not answer that part if you are busy I just needed to say it out loud somewhere

Please try to sleep more than four hours
Please eat food that is not out of a gas station

PS I hope Miami is being kind to you even if New York was not

She signed it with just S

He read it three times He sat there in that little rented room on a cheap chair with peeling white paint and felt his throat tighten and his eyes burn a little He was not someone who cried He always told himself that He did not cry when he blew accounts as a teenager or when his father left or when he had to pretend he did not care about being alone But reading I miss you from her almost broke him open anyway

He wrote back

Hi S
Miami is warm and the ocean is loud The air smells like salt and sunscreen The sand sticks to everything including my laptop which I think is illegal for electronics

I am eating normal food now I am serious I bought eggs I cooked them in a pan like a person who is alive I also bought fruit It was not even on sale I feel like this is growth

I am trying to sleep but it is weird to sleep when there is no noise I never realized how loud New York is until I left I did not know I used to fall asleep to sirens and car horns and neighbors yelling I think I liked that noise It felt like proof that I was not the only one awake

I miss you too I am not going to pretend I do not You told me once not to play games with you so I am not playing any games

Also I am okay You do not have to worry about me I promise I will not drown

He hovered for a long time before hitting send Then he hit send

That email opened something

After that night every few days one of them would write and the other would answer Sometimes long Sometimes short Sometimes just one line that said are you there and the answer would just say yes I am here

None of the emails were dramatic They were simple and honest and that made them heavy in a good way

Sophie sent little things about her days She told him about a professor who talked too fast and wrote crooked notes on the board She told him about a woman who called the brokerage and cried because her husband had passed and she did not know what any of his accounts meant She told him she stayed on the phone with that woman for almost an hour and explained everything in slow calm words and the woman said thank you in a way that almost made her cry at her desk

The more he learned about her the more he loved her heart

Ethan sent her things too He told her about walking by the water with his shoes in his hand and seeing kids race each other in the shallow edge while their parents yelled slow down and the kids did not slow down at all He told her about the way the sun turned the waves gold right before it went down He told her about his first profitable week since leaving New York and how he did it without taking stupid risk He told her that when he closed his last trade of the day he did not feel hungry for more he just felt calm and he did not recognize that feeling at first because it felt too gentle to be his

One night she sent him a message that was different It was longer It felt like something she had been holding

Ethan
Can I tell you something without you trying to fix it I do not need a fix I only need you to hear me

I am scared about my future I know that sounds dramatic but it is true

Everyone around me at work says this is the path They say keep going Stay in the industry Get licensed Get a job at a big firm Live in a nice apartment Wear pencil skirts Smile at clients Tell rich men they are smart and calm while they gamble with money that is not even real to them

But I do not want that I am not built for that performance I do not want to lie to people for a living I want to help real people who are lost I want to sit with women who are scared I want to explain what interest is in normal words I want to show kids how not to drown in debt before they even start life

I know that sounds small next to what you do You sit in front of a screen and try to pull lightning out of the sky every morning I admire that I really do But I do not think I want lightning I think I want a candle Something small and warm and steady that does not burn the rest of my life down

Sometimes I feel like my dream is not big enough for this world Sometimes I feel like the world will not respect me unless I want to be huge

I just need you to tell me I am not crazy

He sat with that one for a long time before he answered He wanted to say the perfect thing He wanted to write something that would wrap around her like arms

Finally he wrote

Sophie
Listen to me You are not small You are not weak You are not crazy

You are the only honest person I know in this whole game

You think I pull lightning You are wrong I chase lightning I get burned by lightning I pretend I like it even when I do not My life looks bright from the outside because money glows like that But the light is not warm

You are building warm light

You call that a candle

I call that a life

If this world cannot respect that then it is the world that is wrong not you

He hit send and then sat back and rubbed his face and let out a slow breath

Her reply came almost right away

Thank you
No one talks to me like that

After that they started calling again Late night calls when she was back in her tiny apartment and he was sitting on the floor of his rented room with his back against the bed They talked about fear without pretending not to have it They talked about wanting something good without knowing how to protect it

He told her more about his dad The anger The silence The way money became a shield and then a drug He had never told anybody that in detail before She listened without judging him or trying to fix him Just quiet soft yes I hear you so he knew he was not alone in that memory anymore

She told him about feeling invisible growing up Always the good kid The reliable kid The calm kid The one teachers loved and guys ignored because calm girls do not pull attention in loud rooms She said she was used to people needing her but not seeing her

That last line stayed with him long after the call ended People need you But they do not see you He wanted to be the person who saw her

One night near midnight her voice sounded different on the phone Soft but tired and a little shaky

“Ethan”

“Yeah I am here”

“I think I am going to quit Harrington after this term is done”

He sat up straight “What happened Did someone say something to you again Did they try to drag you back into the rumor”

“No” she said “It is not that Nobody has said anything for days I am fine It is just I am done pretending I love that job I am tired of going home with other people’s stress inside my chest I am tired of being polite to men who talk down to me and call me sweetheart and tell me to hurry up and then tell me I should smile more I am tired of explaining the same thing to the same angry voices and then getting blamed when the stock they picked with zero thought goes the wrong way”

Her voice shook harder “I am tired Ethan I am just tired”

His hands curled into fists just hearing it He wanted to be there in person He wanted to hold her shoulders look her in the eyes and tell her that none of those people deserved her

“Do it” he said “Quit Do it and do not look back You do not owe them your peace”

She let out a small laugh “You say it like it is that easy”

“It is not easy” he said “But it is still right Sometimes the hard thing and the right thing are the same thing That is how you know it matters”

She was quiet for a moment Then she whispered

“After I quit I want to see you”

His heart kicked hard “Yeah”

“Not on a phone Not in my inbox Not in my head I want to see you for real again I want to sit in front of you and not worry someone is watching I want to drink coffee and not feel like we are doing something wrong I want the world to shut up for one day Is that stupid”

“No” he said “That is the opposite of stupid That is all I want”

“Good” she said in a small relieved voice “Because I was scared you were going to tell me you moved on and met some Miami girl in a sundress on the beach who loves traders with mood issues”

He laughed under his breath “That is very specific”

“I have an imagination”

“I have not met anyone” he said “I am not looking for anyone I do not want anyone else I mean that Sophie I am with you even when I am not with you Do you get that”

She did not speak for a moment Then she whispered

“I get it I am with you too”

He leaned his head back against the bed frame and closed his eyes and let those words move through him like warmth

After the call he could not sleep He stared at the ceiling and felt something he had not felt in a long time Hope Not hope for money Not hope for a big win Hope for a future that actually felt like a life

He realized something important

New York had been where he made his name Miami had been where he saved his mind

But Sophie

Sophie had become the place that felt like home

And he knew this distance would not last forever

He was going back

Not just to the city

To her