Living with that empty space...

What's in a word? He still made Coppelia feel as he always had. And it seemed to her that whatever deep delight their relationship had brought him in the past, it still held for him. His utter joy at being with her again last week needed no special word to define it.
Three days ago they met as usual after his course, which resumed this week after half-term.
As had happened many times before, following a long afternoon in a hotel, Coppelia remained in the hotel overnight and he visited her there again the next morning. There they stayed together until they had to leave the room, and he drove her back to the small town near her home.
These pages have told before, how Coppelia struggled at his departure following these hotel afternoons. How the empty space beside her in the night would loom in the darkness as a bittersweet reality. The day had been hot and bright. She watched him from the window, his jacket over his shoulder, briefcase in hand. Still striding briskly even in the heat. Waving, as he always did, from his car window as he pulled away. Oh, to have him stay! How she needed him to stay. I won't cry, she told herself. I must replace wishing with gratitude. I will see him in the morning! Coppelia must accept it - she has to learn how to live alongside that empty space...