Our divorce became final on a Thursday.
Mark sent me a message.
I hope someday you understand I never wanted things to happen this way.
I didn’t respond.
Three weeks later, Claire called.
“There’s something I thought you should know.”
Mark had contacted her again.
He told her the divorce was final.
He was legally free to marry her, and this time he wanted a proper wedding.
“He actually brought the ring,” Claire said.
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him no.”
Claire explained that Mark had asked her to remember how happy they’d been.
She’d told him she remembered everything.
The weekends when he’d needed time alone to grieve.
The holidays when he’d claimed being around families was painful.
The nights when memories of his late wife supposedly overwhelmed him.
“He wanted me to believe those moments were romantic,” Claire said. “But they were excuses to go home to you.”
