And I felt the very last thread of resentment I had been carrying loosen, and slip, and fall away entirely — because I no longer needed him to understand, or to lose, or to feel anything at all.

I deleted the message without sending it, closed the thread, and turned my phone face down on the counter.

A spoon clattered to the floor by the sink.

“I’ll get it!” Toby called, already reaching for it.

And I smiled, watching him, because I had no wish to raise a child who believed that women existed to clean up the messes other people left behind.

I meant to raise a man who understood that every person is accountable for their own choices, their own decisions, and the respect they owe to the people they claim to love.