Chapter 15 - Five Months Later
Five months later, I returned home from assignment.
The first thing I did was stand in my kitchen.
Same marble.
Same cabinets.
Same coffee shelf.
Different woman.
Rebecca came over that weekend.
Unexpectedly, she brought Marjorie.
Marjorie remained outside.
“I told her she needed to ask,” Rebecca explained.
I almost smiled.
I opened the door.
Marjorie stood on the porch.
“May I come in?”
Such a simple sentence.
It would have prevented almost everything.
“Yes.”
She entered.
She did not touch anything.
Did not rearrange anything.
Did not comment on the furniture.
We drank coffee.
At one point, her eyes landed on the gray cardigan hanging near the mudroom.
She smiled faintly.
“I hate that sweater now.”
I laughed.
“So do I.”
Then we both laughed.
Not because what happened was funny.
May you like
Because sometimes healing announces itself through the first joke you are finally able to make.
---
