She stepped onto the porch.
Then she turned back.
“David?”
“Yes?”
“Were you ever happy after I left?”
The question surprised me.
I thought about the years we had survived.
The exhaustion.
The fear.
The nights I had worried about money.
The moments when I had wished someone would come home and ask how my day had been.
Then I thought about Chloe’s wedding.
The girls laughing in the kitchen.
The first time each of them had called me for advice after moving away.
The grandchildren they might one day bring into our lives.
“Yes,” I said. “I was.”
She nodded slowly.
“I’m glad.”
Then she walked away.
I closed the door.
For a moment, I stood in the hallway, looking at the photographs.
I felt no desire to follow her.
No need to call her back.
No temptation to reopen the past.
I simply returned to the kitchen and started preparing dinner.
