rning it

firm, hanging in the air of the uni

hand outstretched. The prestigious scholarship acceptance letter, the one for an Ivy League school, sat

owering his hand. "This is a full ride. An opportunit

mistake. For this, I had given up everything. I had deferred my own dreams fo

ay never came. Instead, he convinced me to give this very scholarship to his

as a kind man, and he deserved a real answer. "One that doesn't involve being a

ion shifting from confusion to a flicker of surprise, and then something like respect. He saw th

t takes a lot of courage to know what you want, and even more to turn yo

k across the desk. I d

It felt real. The weight of my phone in my pocket, the distant sound of stu

told me I wasn't sophisticated enough for his billionaire father, that I was an embarrassment. Ethan, my husband of twenty year

a cold, hard stone in my che

ayes. This time, I would not be a footnote in his b

ath leading back to the same heartbreak. It was a blank page. And this time, I was the one holding the pen. I let out