Chapter 15

The divorce was granted.
I kept my accounts.
My retirement.
My career.
My name.
Daniel kept the house because I did not want it.
Too many memories of him pacing outside my home office door.
Too many nights of hiding ambition like contraband.
I moved into a small apartment with terrible sunlight and perfect quiet.
Maya helped me unpack.
She placed my wedding ring in a small box labeled Evidence of Poor Decisions.
I laughed so hard I cried.
Then I actually cried.
Not because I wanted Daniel back.
Because leaving still hurts, even when staying would destroy you.
Maya sat beside me on the floor.
May you like
“Freedom has a weird echo at first,” she said.
She was right.