I could have listed every meal, every sleepless night, every sacrifice.
Instead, I looked at the man I had carried beneath my heart and asked one question.
“Do you want me to leave?”
He swallowed.
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“But is it what you want?”
Silence.
Vanessa sighed.
“Leah, don’t make this emotional.”
I looked at her.
“Fine.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“I said fine.”
I went upstairs.
I packed two suitcases, a canvas bag of photographs, my medications, and Thomas’s old brown leather jacket.
I left the extra house key on the kitchen counter.
Jared stood near the staircase when I came down.
“Mom, you don’t have to drive all the way tonight.”
I stopped.
For one terrible second, I hoped he was going to ask me to stay.
Then he added, “There are hotels along the highway.”
I nodded.
“Yes,” I said quietly.
