Chapter 13 - Cole Returned Without The Ring
Eighteen months after their breakup, Evelyn saw Cole at a veterans’
charity event.
He approached alone.
No Grant.
No Elaine.
No engagement ring hidden in his pocket.
That last part made Evelyn smile at herself.
Cole noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You look good.”
“So do you.”
He had started therapy.
He said it without embarrassment.
Grant had not spoken to him in four months.
Cole was learning not to chase reconciliation at any cost.
“I used to think standing up to him meant yelling,” Cole said.
“What do you think now?”
“Sometimes it means letting him be angry and not changing my decision.”
Evelyn nodded.
That sounded healthier.
Cole was dating nobody.
Evelyn was dating someone casually—a civilian aerospace engineer named
Nathan Brooks.
Cole winced when she mentioned it.
Then laughed at himself.
“Still working on maturity.”
“At least you noticed.”
They talked for fifteen minutes.
When they parted, Cole said:
“I loved you.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I know.”
“I just didn’t know how to love you without asking you to fit inside my
family.”
“That’s probably true.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know that too.”
No reunion.
No bitterness.
May you like
Some relationships were important because they ended at the moment
continuing would require someone to disappear.
