It does not mean I am coming back.

It does not mean I am going to pay off your debts.

And it does not mean I am dropping the restitution claim against Daniel.”

Theresa closed her eyes and nodded.

“I understand,” she said.

And I believe she did.

She had come, at last, not to extract one more thing from me, but simply to acknowledge the truth, and that, I could honor, even as I kept every one of my boundaries firmly in place.

Because forgiving her was something I did for myself, a setting-down of years of resentment so that it would stop poisoning me; it cost me nothing and obligated me to nothing.