Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Yes."

That's exactly how suffocating it felt.

If they could part on good terms, maybe she'd remember the good in him.

The failure of their marriage-she knew it was the result of her own bad choices. She wasn't about to pin all the blame on him.

But this relentless pressure-this was what she truly hated.

All Jessica wanted was a small slice of life that belonged to her alone, but even that tiny wish, he insisted on denying her.

Jessica Greene looked at him, sorrow weighing in her eyes. "You're not a fool, Timothy. You know exactly what's become of our marriage. There are only a few weeks left-what's the point in dragging this out?"

"Jessy, most marriages fall apart because of cheating, family issues, or lack of communication. Now you want a divorce-shouldn't we at least sit down and talk about what went wrong? If we can fix it, let's fix it. If we can't, then we'll end it. That's how a marriage should be-beginning to end. Why can't we just talk?"

Jessica let out a bitter laugh. "So you do understand."

He knew everything, yet acted as if he didn't know a thing.

"I've been thinking it through, Jessy. I'm sorry. We've been married seven years—I thought everything was normal. If you want to go home tonight, that's fine. But can we please sit down and talk?" Timothy gestured to the chair across from him.

Jessica remained standing. "We're way past the talking stage."

"We still have a few weeks, don't we? How is it too late?"

"Because any feeling I had left for this marriage is already dead."

bring back the woman she'd once been the one full of hope for their

calm that Jessica didn't even want to fight. They barely ever argued. She used to be the quiet one, unable to speak up; now that she finally could, Timothy had become so accommodating

you're saying is, you actually did

think most people do," Jessica

in Timothy's hand burned down to the filter. He stubbed it out, grabbed his

on a cane, he was still devastatingly handsome-his presence undiminished,

away-one week's already gone. I don't want to waste what's left. Can you give me these last three weeks? Can

tension and resignation. "Did you

a misunderstanding between us. Whatever you think you saw-did you ever try to verify it? There's a saying-even what we see with our own eyes can be wrong. Can we

Jessica fell silent.

was nothing

"If you're leaving me, at least

shot back, "Don't you already

of it. You mean about me and Sheila Howard. But

once. Better to face the whole

see the world the same way-our values don'Dmatch, and I'm

couldn't be bothered to mention Sheila again. Bringing her up made

she was long

away, unable to look at

blocking her path. "So you're not

a chance to explain?"

of

this marriage

free