It was better, perhaps, because we both knew exactly what still had to change.

PART 21

A month before our anniversary, Marcus and I drove to the coast for a weekend away.

We rented a tiny cabin with a crooked porch, packed sandwiches and books, and promised each other we would not spend the whole trip discussing wedding photographs or family tensions.

For most of Saturday, we succeeded.

We walked along the shore collecting flat stones while the tide crept around our shoes.

Marcus told me that he sometimes worried about becoming the sort of man who thought solving a problem was the same as listening to the person who had it.