One evening a year later, I sat on my back porch and watched the sun drop behind the mountains, the sky going gold and then purple over the valley.

The air was cool and clean and quiet.

No notifications.

No corporate politics.

No rehearsed declarations of love, and no betrayals hiding behind them.

I took a slow sip of coffee and felt something settle deep in my chest that I hadn’t felt in years, and maybe never had — peace, the plain and total kind.