Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Sallie, do you seriously have the nerve to call me right now? Or have you just conveniently forgotten everything that happened?"

She was furious.

Vince gritted his teeth and spat out, "Let me make myself perfectly clear: from this day on, whatever happens to Timothy-whether he lives or dies-has absolutely nothing to do with the Zimmerman family!"

With those words, he hung up.

Sallie nearly threw her phone in frustration.

This was a disaster.

Salome had always been the Zimmermans' favorite. That day, right in front of Vince, she'd called Jessica a mute and accused her of embarrassing the Lawsons just by showing up.

It was no wonder Vince had lost his temper.

But now Timothy had vanished without a trace. Where was she supposed to find him?

Timothy was on the mountain.

He'd returned to the same old abbey he'd visited once before.

He was lucky; just as he walked in, he came across Father Benedict, the abbey's head priest, whom he'd met on his previous visit.

"Father," Timothy greeted him quietly.

Father Benedict pressed his palms together and bowed his head slightly. "Peace be with you, my son."

Timothy had seen enough of the world to know the proper etiquette, and since he'd come seeking the priest's guidance on how to escape his pain, he tried to follow Father Benedict's example, bowing his head and folding his hands. "Peace be with you, Father. I visited your abbey once before, and your words about suffering left a deep impression on me. I have some questions I'd like to ask."

come this

followed Father Benedict into the

moment Timothy

his heart seemed to quiet, if

down on floor cushions at a low table, where a pot of tea was kept warm. After a brief glance, Father Benedict

are you?" the priest

his surprise. It wasn't often that

you

unhurried. "It's written

He prided himself on keeping his

He got straight to the point: "How do I ease the pain of unfulfilled longing and the suffering of losing someone

how do you think it can be eased?" Father Benedict asked in

came back to me, if we could go back to our old life together, then the pain would stop. But she refuses. She's gone, and I

quiet for a while before he spoke, "When an addict is overwhelmed by withdrawal, what's the first thing he thinks

the drug,"

he does, does the

The pain just comes

nodded, satisfied. "So, do you understand

mean, for an addict, the relief from pain is only temporary.

pain ebbs for a little while, and

not real joy, just the absence of pain. The deeper the suffering, the more intense the fleeting relief, but that only

a chill run through him. He understood the

couldn't

If my wife came back to me and we lived

by taking the drug? Does someone who never started ever suffer withdrawal?