Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Yes."

That's exactly how suffocating it felt.

If they could part on good terms, maybe she'd remember the good in him.

The failure of their marriage-she knew it was the result of her own bad choices. She wasn't about to pin all the blame on him.

But this relentless pressure-this was what she truly hated.

All Jessica wanted was a small slice of life that belonged to her alone, but even that tiny wish, he insisted on denying her.

Jessica Greene looked at him, sorrow weighing in her eyes. "You're not a fool, Timothy. You know exactly what's become of our marriage. There are only a few weeks left-what's the point in dragging this out?"

"Jessy, most marriages fall apart because of cheating, family issues, or lack of communication. Now you want a divorce-shouldn't we at least sit down and talk about what went wrong? If we can fix it, let's fix it. If we can't, then we'll end it. That's how a marriage should be-beginning to end. Why can't we just talk?"

Jessica let out a bitter laugh. "So you do understand."

He knew everything, yet acted as if he didn't know a thing.

"I've been thinking it through, Jessy. I'm sorry. We've been married seven years—I thought everything was normal. If you want to go home tonight, that's fine. But can we please sit down and talk?" Timothy gestured to the chair across from him.

Jessica remained standing. "We're way past the talking stage."

"We still have a few weeks, don't we? How is it too late?"

left for this

bring back the woman she'd once

to be the quiet one, unable to speak up; now that she finally could,

voice was steady, almost gentle. "So what you're saying is, you actually

most people

Timothy's hand burned down to the filter. He stubbed it out,

he was still devastatingly handsome-his presence

to it just to buy myself thirty more days. Time is slipping away-one week's already gone. I don't want to waste what's left. Can you give me these last

and resignation. "Did you lie about the waiting

saw-did you ever try to verify it? There's a saying-even what we see with our own eyes can be wrong. Can we please talk? Tell

Jessica fell silent.

nothing left

her retreat into silence, Timothy pressed on. "If you're leaving me, at least let me know

shot back, "Don't you

"I know some of it. You mean about

wanted to settle it all at once. Better to face the whole ugly truth now than to have it drag out,

We don't see the world the same

be bothered to mention Sheila again. Bringing her up made it

jealousy, and she was

turned away, unable to look at

"So you're not even going

a chance to explain?"

Sheila showed up, I decided to hand the title of Mrs. Lawson back to you. From