We sat in silence for a moment, two people from a story that was never meant to be. Then I stood up and walked away, and I didn’t look back.
My journey with Derek was slower. It wasn’t a fairytale reunion. It was hard.
There were nights he woke up screaming. There were days he couldn’t stand to be touched. He was a puzzle with a thousand broken pieces, and I had to learn his new shape.
I was different, too. I wasn’t the naive young wife he had left behind. I was a widow, a single mother who had found love again and had it ripped away. I was stronger, but more guarded.
We went to therapy. Separately, and then together. We talked. We yelled. We cried. We spent hours just sitting in silence, re-learning how to simply be in the same room together.
The biggest bridge between us was Liam.
