We arranged to meet with a counselor present.

When I put down the phone, I stared at the empty nursery corner in Dad’s guest room.

I felt two truths at once: I missed the man I had married, and I was no longer willing to return to the life that had almost broken me.

Both truths could exist.

I didn’t need to choose a story simple enough for Agnes to understand.

PART 18: The Counseling Room