He smiled.
Emily smiled back.
Claire followed her gaze.
“He’s different.”
“Yes.”
“Do you trust him?”
Emily thought about it.
“I trust him to show up tomorrow.”
Claire glanced at her.
“That doesn’t sound very romantic.”
Emily smiled.
“You’d be surprised.”
The six-month lease became nine months.
Then twelve.
Mark never complained.
On the anniversary of the day Emily moved into the rental, she asked him to meet her at their old house.
He arrived at seven.
The girls were with Margaret.
Emily stood in the nursery.
The room looked almost untouched.
Three cribs remained there, though the girls had long outgrown them.
Mark stopped in the doorway.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes.”
Emily held something in her palm.
Her wedding ring.
Mark looked at it.
Then at her.
She had worn it on a chain for more than a year.
“I came here a few days ago,” she said.
