Elias looked out at the ocean.
“Never shrink yourself to fit inside someone else’s gratitude.”
Seraphina closed her eyes.
A moment later, footsteps approached.
Grant.
Elias turned.
Seraphina touched his arm.
“It’s all right.”
Her father walked inside.
Grant stood several feet away.
His bow tie hung loose around his neck.
He looked twenty years older.
“Is there anything left?”
Seraphina understood the question.
Not the company.
Them.
She considered lying.
She considered giving him something gentle.
Instead she gave him the truth.
“No.”
Grant nodded.
Tears filled his eyes.
“I suppose this is where you tell me you never needed me.”
Seraphina looked at him.
“No.”
He waited.
“I did need you.”
That hurt him more.
“I needed a husband.
I needed the man who ate pizza with me on the floor of my rented apartment because we couldn’t find the plates after moving.
I needed the man who drove three hours when my tire blew because he didn’t want me waiting alone.”
