And the framed sign remained on the living room wall.
“A HOME IS A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE RESPECTED—NOT A HOTEL FOR PEOPLE WHO RUN OUT OF OPTIONS.”
Linda raised her glass.
“Do you ever think about what would have happened if you had let Gary move back in?”
I considered the question.
“Sometimes.”
“And?”
I smiled.
“I think I would have spent the rest of my life wondering whether I was
strong enough to leave him again.”
Linda nodded.
“Instead, you left him once and never looked back.”
I looked around my home.
My home.
Not the place where I had spent years trying to keep a marriage alive.
Not the place where I had cried after Gary walked out.
But the place where I had rediscovered myself.
I raised my glass.
“To the woman I used to be.”
Linda clinked her glass against mine.
“And to the woman you are now.”
