I looked at the screen.
A woman stood outside the gate beside an ordinary blue sedan.
She wore jeans, sneakers, and a plain gray sweater.
Her hair was pulled into a ponytail.
No designer sunglasses.
No expensive coat.
No entourage.
It was Vanessa.
She didn’t try to enter.
She pressed the intercom.
“Leah?
It’s Vanessa.”
I sat looking at the screen.
My heart began to beat faster.
Then I answered.
“What do you need?”
She looked directly at the camera.
“I came to apologize.”
I said nothing.
She swallowed.
“I know I already said it on the phone.
But I wanted to say it to your face.”
I considered refusing.
Then I thought about the person I’d become.
A person who had learned that boundaries were not walls meant to imprison us.
They were doors we could choose to open.
Or keep closed.
I pressed the button.
