Chapter 16
It hurt – God, it but more than I thought it would. But deep down, I knew I had made the right decision.
for the first time, I was choosing myself.
And as I stepped out of the square and into the quiet streets beyond, I felt a flicker of something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Hope
cried fatsteps, and the hum of lite bustling in every dioection. But this time, te feln
shdeephi, letting the exispala nich my hangs. It was the air of freedom or e–note–but it was
anh canhing up on emails Workhad pledug in my absence, but once, Litle overwhelmed
taway of lightening the mood, even when my mind was weighed down with thoughts of Alec and the life that left behind.
sted plant – a sovalent, simple and study –with a note tocked inside.
thought about Endy
by and the endless pep talks she had given me mer the years. She has beed in me, even
mould into evnis project, every resting, every deadline, determinedtomake ing mark.
me vision and disitacting me tions the things that truly mattered that now, with him out of the picture, I finally had the sp
but such. I began to find joy in the little the
aning sunlight filtered through my apartment window as I sipped my coffee.
wowtkets during buch bewake, the camaraderie we shared as we nusipated the chaos of deadlines and client demand.
nits of solitude, curled up on my tech with a good book and a glass of wine
icominced me to join her and a few colleagues for happy hour at a rooftophor ex,” she insisted, dragging me along despite my half–hearted piorests. sing, the city lights twinkling like stats against the backdoop of the night sky codical and Exceed to the chumer aro
ta flicker of something I hadn’t felt in a long time: contentment.
I was feeling lighter, the weight of the past beginning tolomen its grip on me.
(nood night air brushing against my skin, I thought about how far I had come
the city that felt different – it was me.
erung, Twoke up early and decided to visit the farmers market down the st
caraming with fresh produce, colorful flowers, andhaminade goods. I wondered through the cows, letting the vibrant egy of the market lät my spirits. stall selling candles all picked up on labeled “Fresh Stack” The scend was ligte andelean, a mix of citrus and valor.
1 paid ka it, tha vendar imiled at me “New begining?” the inked, but loni katan
Trodded, umiling back. “Something the that ”
tha the candle and sat by the wind, the potted vent beside m
1 pulled out my journal, sorurthing Thadn’t done in years, and began its weine
note about the things that made me happy–the sounded rain again the window, the taste of my fatetea, the way the city came above arnight. hings I wanted to accomplish – starting a new project at work, traveling to a place I’d never been, taking a cooking class food for fun.
hat about the pain or the longing, but about the leisons he had taught me to go, how to stand up for myell, how to my own happine
a mundu Corand easily, and by the time I set try pen down, Deli a sense of clarity i hadn’t know livedel,
In the weeks that Bab mel, I notated that mindket with everything i had.
Tsiped up ka a pottery class at a stadionean my apartment, where I spend Saturday monings covered in clay aud laughing with simangens who sprickly became friends.
I mailed prong in the pakatter wk, krag the thytlum ol my footstepardes my mind andraergite my body
dininen partimi, ditesiden, evenaléndidate set up bychia
The dam dala’t kalio anything ankaya, lan it tendakedone dal tiene mas kita banya
These were people and fair when world see me fun that beat, and an someone waiting in time wings.
And mayle, one day, I would find some Marlowe me without hesitatko
Tot now, though. I was content in chose nipell
To wake up each mating with a
La sense of purpose.
