“He’s Not Moving Away From Me,” She Said. I Packed My Bags and Left Them Both Behind

the sound sharp and final. Linda watched me with the calm of someone who believed the outcome was predetermined, inevitable, already won.

“Fine,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “You win.”

Her eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “I know.”

That night, I packed while Ethan hovered in the bedroom doorway like a ghost haunting his own life. He tried to continue reading …