Chapter 15 - He Asked Me for One Last Chance
“Sterling-Carter,” I said.
The judge looked up.
“Both?”
“Yes.”
Jessica Sterling-Carter.
My father’s name.
My mother’s name.
Mine.
Not hidden.
Not borrowed.
Chosen.
The judge nodded.
“Granted.”
When I stepped out of court, Dad waited in the hallway.
“You kept Carter.”
“It was Mom’s.”
“And Sterling?”
“It’s mine too.”
Dad looked suspiciously emotional.
“Don’t start.”
“I said nothing.”
“Your face is talking.”
“My face is dignified.”
“Your face is crying.”
“Dry air.”
I hugged him.
The divorce became final that afternoon.
Four years of marriage reduced to stamped paper.
No dramatic music.
No applause.
Just a clerk handing me copies.
Rachel asked:
“How do you feel?”
“Hungry.”
She laughed.
“Best answer I’ve heard all week.”
We ate tacos.
Dad paid.
I objected.
He ignored me.
Some family patterns were harmless.
A month later, I received permission for a video call with Luca.
Our first direct conversation since sentencing.
He appeared on screen wearing plain clothes.
Thinner.
Older.
But calm.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“How’s Leo?”
“Destroying bananas.”
Luca laughed.
“Sounds serious.”
“Very.”
Then silence.
He looked at me.
“I heard the divorce is final.”
“Yes.”
“Sterling-Carter?”
“Yes.”
“Fits you.”
“Thank you.”
He rubbed his hands.
“I wanted to ask something.”
My body tensed.
He noticed.
“Not that.”
“What?”
“I’m not asking you to wait for me.”
I relaxed slightly.
“What are you asking?”
“If there’s any chance, someday, that we could be... not friends exactly.”
He searched for words.
“Family.”
I understood.
“For Leo.”
“Yes.”
I thought carefully.
“I think we already are.”
He looked surprised.
“You’re his father. I’m his mother. That doesn’t make us married.”
His eyes filled.
“I wish I’d understood that sooner.”
“What?”
“That family isn’t something you prove by choosing one person against another.”
Wendy.
Me.
His father.
All of it.
“You learned.”
“Expensively.”
“Yes.”
He smiled sadly.
Then:
“Can I tell you something selfish?”
“Okay.”
“If I could go back to the hospital night—”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He stopped.
“I don’t want the imaginary version.”
His face fell.
I continued gently.
“You can’t fix that night.”
“I know.”
“You can only decide who you are after it.”
He nodded slowly.
“That’s harder.”
“Yes.”
“Probably better.”
“Yes.”
Before ending the call, Luca said:
“I loved you badly.”
My throat tightened.
“That’s probably true.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“Did you ever forgive me?”
I thought carefully.
“Some parts.”
He nodded.
“And the rest?”
“Maybe someday.”
His eyes lowered.
“Fair.”
Then I said something that surprised both of us.
“Forgiveness isn’t the same as coming back.”
“I know.”
“And coming back isn’t an option.”
He looked directly at me.
“I know.”
No argument.
No persuasion.
No promise that he could change enough to earn me.
That was how I knew he had changed at least somewhat.
He respected the no.
After the call, Dad stood in my kitchen pretending he hadn’t been waiting.
“How was it?”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Yes.”
“That’s suspiciously mature.”
“Try it sometime.”
“No interest.”
I laughed.
My life became quieter.
Work.
Leo.
Dad.
Therapy.
Friends I had neglected during my marriage.
I started running again.
Not because I wanted to “get my body back.”
My body had gone nowhere.
It had done something extraordinary.
I ran because I liked the feeling of moving forward.
Then, at a Kessler charity event, I met Ethan Cole.
He was a pediatric architect.
Yes.
That existed.
He designed hospitals and children’s rehabilitation centers.
We talked for twenty minutes about terrible hotel carpeting.
Then he asked for my number.
I said no.
Not cruelly.
“I’m not ready.”
He smiled.
“Okay.”
No wounded ego.
No persuasion.
No “give me a chance.”
Just okay.
Three months later, we met again.
He remembered my name.
Not my father.
Not the scandal.
Mine.
This time, I gave him my number.
But before anything could become serious, I needed to answer one question.
Was I choosing Ethan because I genuinely liked him?
Or because he was everything Luca wasn’t?
So I waited.
And Ethan let me.
May you like
That, more than anything, made me curious.
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