Richard turned onto his left side as he opened his eyes.

Another day.

Richard sighed.

He suddenly caught sight of a small black box on his dresser.

He hadn't touched that box since the day she broke up with him.

Dick slid to his feet and walked over to the box with the picture beside it. 

The picture was taken the day Dick and her went to the fair.

In the picture, she is holding the stuffed animal and smiling. Richard, meanwhile, is holding her around her stomach and smiling too. 

Richard smiled at the picture before picking up the black velvet box.

He opened it up.

Inside, there sat a sterling silver band with diamonds around it.

An engagement ring. 

Dick smiled sadly at the ring.

They broke up 3 days before he was going to pop the question.

It's been a month since the break-up.

A month since he poured the truth of his emotions out in 3 simple words.

I love you. 

A total, undivided, devotional love.

He was completely hers.

And now...

He didn't know what to do anymore.

Every time he went to the park, the fair, the coffee shop, he would always be reminded of her. 

It still hurt. Not as bad as it was right after, but it still hurt.

He had to take 2 weeks off his job just so he could cry.

His partner, Amy Rohrbach, had to bust in his apartment door and get him off his bed.

She said that they were "spread too thin", but he knew what she was doing.

Amy was being nicer, but still called him 'Rookie.'

She slowly learned what set him off.

Like, when she made him go get coffee with her because he had "been working too hard."

When they reached the coffee shop, Richard said, "You know that we got coffee together. I mean me and..." he trailed off.

Amy immediately noticed the signals that Richard gave off whenever he thought about her.

A small, sad smile, a light glitter in his eyes, a grimace of his lips. 

Amy didn't know a lot about her other than what Dick said. 

She did see the picture and box when she busted down his bedroom door.

Amy knew that it was pretty serious, but after she got over her shock about the ring, she knew what she had to do. 

The Rookie was slowly killing himself.

A serious relationship like that was hard to bounce back from.

So, she tried to take his mind off of her.

Amy took him to get coffee, go to the grocery store, work. Anything.

Of course, it seemed that just about everything set him off.

Coffee. He would talk about what they got together. Her favorite was a Hazelnut Coffee with Hazelnut Creamer and some white sugar. She would order it every time they got coffee. 

In the grocery store, he would stop and look at the strawberries for a few minutes. It was quite obvious that he was thinking of her. He told her that it reminded him of her flaming red hair. 

At work, he wouldn't touch a light green pen. Said it was too close to her eye color. 

Now, he refuses to go anywhere near the park or fair.

"Rookie, you have to get out of the car." Amy said as she pulled the police car into the parking lot of the fair.

"No. I'm fine here, thank you." Richard said, looking at his lap.

"Richard, I need to lock the car and I refuse to lock you in it!" Amy yelled, glaring at him.

"I can't." Richard whispered.

"Rookie, listen, I know you're going through a bad brake-up. But you have to remember that a  lot of people have been there before. You can't give up on life. There's still 7.2 billion other people out there! You're going to find someone else and that's okay." Amy said.

"She was the one, Amy! I've never felt this way with any other woman! So, no, I'm not going to find another like her." Richard argued. 

"Well, not with that attitude!" Amy rolled her eyes.

"Rookie, get your ass out of the damn car!" Amy yelled.

Dick sighed, knowing he wasn't winning this.

He slowly got out.

Amy was by his side in moments.

"Little steps, Richard." Amy said. 

Richard nodded.

Little steps.

What do you guys think?