Chapter 13 - NATALIE ASKED ME IF THERE WAS ANY CHANCEOur divorce took almost a year.
The marriage had contained real love.
That made ending it harder.
People expect betrayal to erase all good memories.
It doesn’t.
Natalie had sat beside me when my father died.
She celebrated promotions.
Stayed awake during my surgery.
Made me laugh.
She also terrorized my mother for money and lied to my face.
Both histories were true.
At our final mediation, she asked:
“If I hadn’t put anything in that juice, would you stay?”
I looked at her.
“No.”
She cried.
“Why?”
“Because the juice was the last step.”
Not the first.
The first was deciding Mom’s no did not matter.
Then hiding medicine.
Then isolating her.
Then lying about her cognition.
Then planning around my trust.
The glass only made everything visible.
Natalie whispered:
“I loved you.”
“I know.”
“That doesn’t matter?”
“It matters.”
I swallowed.
“It just doesn’t make you safe.”
May you like
She nodded.
That was the end.
