Reconciliation was a separate decision, about the future rather than the past, about whether this person belonged in her life going forward, and to that question the honest answer was no, and forgiveness did not change it.

She could wish Andrew well, could be glad he was becoming better, could release her anger at him entirely, and still keep the door shut, because the door was about who she chose to build her life with, and a man’s genuine growth, however real, did not entitle him to a place in it.

She had forgiven him.

She was not going back.

Both were true, and there was no contradiction in them at all, and understanding that was one of the most freeing things she ever learned.