Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Love or not, I can't say for sure. But what I do know is-there's no way things will work out between you two."

The phone call left Timothy with a heavy heart.

He'd always thought Yates was on his side, speaking up for him, maybe even knowing Jessica was Salome, understanding that he didn't want a divorce, and trying to help him out.

Turns out, he'd gotten it all backwards.

"So," Timothy shot back, "if I can't be with her, you think you can?"

He might be miserable, but he wasn't about to lose his nerve.

His words hit Yates where it hurt, though to be fair, Yates hadn't exactly been a paragon of virtue himself. Back when he didn't know Jessica was Salome, he hadn't made Timothy's life hell the way Vince had.

That much, at least, was true.

"My chances are better than yours, Timothy. You're the one who burned this marriage to the ground. There's no going back."

"Spare me the lecture."

He knew. Of course he knew. But knowing didn't help he didn't want Jessica to leave, yet he couldn't find any way to make her stay.

"I'll say just one thing. There's one thing you did that's truly unforgivable, do you realize that? Today, she showed up in front of Mrs. Zimmerman, and Mrs. Zimmerman recognized her instantly. All I could think was—if you'd introduced her to people, just once in your seven years of marriage, the Zimmermans wouldn't have spent all these years not knowing she was Salome."

Yates' words cut deep.

She really was recognized at a glance?

He almost laughed at himself. All this time, he'd been fantasizing about removing her birthmark.

"What's worse," Yates pressed, "is that even after you found out, you kept it from the Zimmerman family. Tell me, Timothy-when did you know? Was it when Vince told you about the birthmark?"

The call ended abruptly.

his

was a weight pressing

when

between him and Jessica hadn't

But he hadn't.

told himself

that one year's

his eyes. Maybe if the pain from his wounds was

found himself longing for the

for those quiet, gentle

His father, never particularly capable, had remarried and started a new family. His grandfather was eager to raise him, and his father

day, Timothy had lived

it was endless schooling, then, as

only after marrying Jessica that he learned what a home could

place

intimate moments seemed to unravel every knot inside him.

you let yourself get too comfortable, you'd get

finally get what you've always longed for, you

when you lose it,

his distance, tried to run from

he'd fallen headlong anyway, and now he was learning just how much it hurt to

a deal, and went for an early morning walk. As he wandered, he came upon

first truth

of suffering: suffering from change, suffering from pain, and

remembered. The priest listed eight great pains of human life:

and death. As for the rest-never. Those were things that

been living with two of them-wanting and not

remembered, as they'd left the chapel, the priest had said