I shut my eyes tight.
No more tears. I'm done crying. Colin doesn't deserve another tear, another breath, another piece of me.
Dressing to wait for him felt like nothing less than preparing for a funeral.
The simple black dress. The low black heels. My hair pulled back, all remnants of softness erased.
And perhaps itwasa funeral. Tonight, I laid to rest the last piece of what was left. I shoveled the final, choking mound of earth onto the grave Colin had spent months digging for our marriage.For our whole story.
When I open my eyes again, I see his shadow framed in the living room window. I turn my back and start walking.
I haven't even reached the end of the street when a car slows in my peripheral vision. I turn just in time to see Mark leaning across the console, pushing the passenger door open for me.
My shoulders sag. "I told you, you didn't have to come."
"Since when do I do everything I'm told?" he says, a faint grin tugging at his mouth.
I slide into the seat, and as soon as I close the door and buckle my belt, I feel his eyes on me.
"How was it?" he asks after a beat.
Staring out through the windshield, I whisper, "As bad as you can imagine."
Mark reaches over, his hand brushing my cheek, gently guiding my face until our eyes meet.
"Cecily Sterling," his voice eases. "You're going to be okay. This isn't what breaks you."
Sterling.
Cecily Sterling. It feels so strange now, like it was never really mine, even though I wore it as my name for as long as Cecily Montgomery has been.
Was.It won't be anymore.
After Mark asks where I want to go, I tell him just to drive for a while. I'm not ready to return to my parents' house. Not ready to face my children without falling apart.
I lean my head against the window, watching the scenery blur past me in muted streaks, though none of it registers.
My phone begins to ring in my bag. I pull it out, my heart tightening, thinking it might be my mother.It isn't.
An unknown number. I hesitate, thumb hovering, unsure if I should answer.
At last, I lift the phone to my ear and speak, my voice uncertain. "Hello?"
“I’m sorry for calling without notice. I just read your blog, and if I’m understanding it correctly… I’m truly sorry for what you’re going through. Is there anything I can do?”
I close my eyes as silent tears slip down my cheeks. And somehow, in the middle of all this wreckage, I feel the faintest, broken smile curve my lips… because his words bring me a fragile kind of comfort.
And so, I answer.
Chapter 02
Birds of a feather
Colin
“Colin? The door’s open. I’m coming in.”
I don't move. I stay where I am. Collapsed on the floor, eyes shut, head resting against the wall, the weight of a half-empty brandy glass hanging loosely in my hand.
