promise I won’t use the past as a weapon if we choose the future.”
Lily carried the rings.
Rebecca stood beside me.
And when Daniel kissed his wife, I cried again.
Just like at the first wedding.
But for an entirely different reason.
Later that evening, as the sun dropped behind the mountain, Rebecca and I sat on the porch.
She handed me a glass of lemonade.
“No wine?”
“I’m fifty-nine now,” she said. “Alcohol gives me heartburn.”
I laughed.
“So does family.”
We watched Lily chase fireflies.
Then Rebecca said quietly, “Do you ever miss him?”
I knew who she meant.
Mark.
I considered lying.
Then I didn’t.
“Sometimes.”
Rebecca looked surprised.
“I miss the person I thought he was.”
“That’s different.”
“Yes.”
I watched the mountain turn gold.
“For thirty-one years, I thought my life was a marriage. Then I thought my life had been a lie.”
