Susan nodded.
He told me he would hand it over to you.
I opened the envelope.
The letter inside was brief.
Robert, I came because I needed to tell you face to face, but I didn’t have the courage to wait any longer. I still love you. If it’s even a small part of you that still loves me, call me. I’ll go anywhere. I’ll start with you again.
Below was a phone number.
I stared at it until the numbers became blurry.
I never saw this.
I know.
For the first time since I had entered Susan’s house, anger began to grow inside me.
Not pain.
Not confusion.
Ira.
Why would Linda do something like that?
Susan remained silent for a moment.
Because I loved you.
“That doesn’t justify it.
Thirty-six years of birthdays
I can’t give you back those years.
So my last wish is not to be forgiven.
My last wish is that you can finally make the decision that I took from you.
Find Susan.
Listen to the truth.
And if life gives you even if it’s one more chance to be happy, please don’t waste it because of me.
Linda.
When I finished reading, I was crying.
Not in silence.
I covered my face with both hands and cried for the woman I had lost and for the young man I once went.
By Susan.
By Linda.
For all that could have happened.
And for all that happened.
Susan didn’t touch me.
She just sat there and let me cry.
After a long time, I asked the question I was almost afraid to ask.
Have you ever married?
Susan smiled sadly.
“Yes.
My heart sank for reasons that I didn’t fully understand.
“He was a good man,” he said. We spent twenty-eight years together. He died six years ago.
I looked at her.
“So, did you have a good life?”
“Yes.
That response gave me a strange sense of relief.
Neither of them had spent forty years frozen in the past.
