She began seeing me as competition.
And because she believed love, status, attention, and money were things people had to compete for, she wanted me smaller and more dependent.
“I wanted you gone,” she admitted.
Then she apologized.
Not to get money.
Not to ask permission to return.
Not to demand forgiveness.
She simply acknowledged what she had done.
“You don’t owe me another relationship,” she said.
That mattered.
“I don’t trust you,” I told her.
“I understand.”
“I don’t know if I ever will.”
“I understand.”
“I’m not ready to forgive everything.”
“I understand.”
I studied her for a moment.
“But I believe your apology is real.”
She cried.
Before leaving, she wished me a merry Christmas.
Jared stayed.
That evening, he handed me a donation receipt.
He had donated his remaining $15,000 from our old emergency account to a hospice fund in Thomas’s name.
