The morning I switched the ovens back on at five in the morning, Irvin stood in the doorway holding two cups of coffee.
He had changed too.
He stopped automatically becoming the neighborhood handyman.
Because he finally understood something.
Having no romantic interest in someone wasn’t enough when that person repeatedly tested the marriage.
Boundaries couldn’t simply exist in his head.
They had to be visible.
And I learned something too.
Vanessa had almost gained control over us because we were terrified of what would happen if she exposed a real mistake.
The moment we admitted that mistake ourselves and fixed it, she had nothing left to use against us.
