I leaned back in my chair.
“Karen, you’ve spent twenty-two years being responsible for everyone else. Give yourself permission to try something that might fail.”
She was quiet.
Then she said, “You make it sound simple.”
“It isn’t. But neither is staying miserable because you’re afraid of what might happen.”
The next day, she signed a preliminary agreement to lease the space.
I was proud of her.
Proud enough that I almost forgot I was supposed to be keeping my distance.
Then, six weeks after that first rainy night, she called me at midnight.
“I found out who she is.”
I sat upright.
“Who?”
“Natalie. The woman Michael has been seeing.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did he tell you?”
“No. My attorney received documents during the divorce proceedings. There were expenses I couldn’t explain, and I hired a private investigator to establish when the affair began.”
