Ben read the message and typed a reply.
“What was it?”
“They wanted me to cover Friday.”
“And?”
“I said no.”
No speech. No explanation. He simply set the phone down.
Then mine buzzed. A client wanted me for an event that same Friday.
I looked at Ben. “I’ve got work…”
“I’m free. Take it, sweetheart. Olive and I will go on an adventure.”
A year earlier, I would have rearranged my life around his before he even asked.
This time, I didn’t.
“I will.”
For eleven years, I had believed love meant adjusting quietly enough that no one ever noticed what it cost me.
I was done with that version of love.
Ben hadn’t brought me to Oregon.
I hadn’t followed him.
We had built something new together, and this time, my life wasn’t the part that disappeared to make his possible.
