PART 10:

Meant everything he’d been trying to build in the city before it all fell apart. But it also meant leaving. I don’t know, he said. You should take it. Victoria, you came back here because you had to, not because you wanted to. This is a second chance. You don’t get many of those. What about you? What about me? You just buried your father.

You’re alone in that house. I promised You promised a dying man something he won’t remember. That doesn’t bind you to anything. Daniel stared at her, and the distance between them felt enormous again. Is that what you want? For me to leave? Victoria didn’t answer right away. Just watched Emma, who’d found a stick and was poking at the water with it.

I want you to have the life you were supposed to have. She said finally, the one you tried to build before everything went wrong. That’s not here. Maybe it is. Daniel, I spent 15 years chasing something I couldn’t name, building a career that didn’t mean anything, living in a city that didn’t care if I existed, and it didn’t make me happy.

It didn’t make me anything. So, you’re going to stay here out of what? Guilt? Obligation? No, I’m staying because He stopped. Because he didn’t know how to finish that sentence. Or maybe he did, and was too afraid to say it out loud. Victoria stood, brushing off her dress. Think about the job. Really think about it. Emma deserves stability.

You deserve a to fix what broke. What about what you deserve? She looked down at him, her face unreadable. I stopped thinking about that a long time ago. She walked over to Emma, knelt beside her, said something that made Emma smile. Daniel sat there on the bank, his feet in the water, staring at the two of them, and feeling the future split into paths he couldn’t see the end of.

That night, after Emma was asleep, Daniel sat on his porch and stared at his phone. His former boss’s number was there, waiting. One call. That’s all it would take. He thought about the promise, about Victoria alone in that massive house, about Emma, who just started liking it here, about himself, and whether staying was strength or just another way to run from making a real decision.

His phone rang. Unknown number again. Hello? Mr. Hayes, this is Thomas Greer. We spoke a few weeks ago about the Chicago contract. Daniel’s stomach dropped. Yeah, I remember. I wanted to follow up. The position’s still open. We’d need you to start in 2 weeks. I know it’s fast, but the client’s timeline is aggressive.

2 weeks? I understand you have a daughter. We’d help with relocation costs, set you up in a good area with good schools. This is a real opportunity, Mr. Hayes, the kind that doesn’t come around often. Daniel closed his eyes. Can I think about it? Of course, but I need an answer by Friday. After that, we’re moving to other candidates.

Friday, got it. He hung up and sat there in the dark, the weight of the decision pressing down like a physical thing. Inside, Emma was asleep. Next door, Victoria’s house was dark except for one light upstairs. Daniel imagined her there, alone, organizing her father’s things, or staring at walls, or doing whatever people did when grief finally caught up with them.

He thought about the promise box, about the plastic ring, about the life he’d tried to build and the one he’d left behind. Friday was 4 days away. The next morning, Victoria didn’t show up for their run. Daniel waited until 7:00, then walked over and knocked. No answer. Her car was there. The lights were off.

He tried the door, unlocked. Victoria? The house was silent. He found her in the study sitting at the desk surrounded by papers, financial documents, legal forms, things that looked important and overwhelming. She was still in yesterday’s clothes. Did you sleep? Daniel asked. No. Victoria, I have to sort through all of this.

The estate, the house, his accounts. There’s so much and I can’t I can’t think straight. Daniel walked over, looked at the papers. It was a mess. No organization, just panic disguised as productivity. When did you eat last? I don’t know. Yesterday, maybe. Come on. I can’t. I have to You have to eat, then we’ll deal with this.

She looked up at him and he saw how close she was to breaking. Not the quiet breakdown from before, something worse. Something that wouldn’t stop once it started. I can’t do this, she whispered. You don’t have to do it alone. Oh, yes, I do. That’s how it works. He’s gone and I’m the only one left and all of this falls on me.

That’s not true. Isn’t it? Look around, Daniel. Who else is here? He didn’t have an answer for that because she was right. The house was empty. The family was gone. It was just her. Except it wasn’t. I’m here, he said. Victoria stared at him. You’re leaving in 2 weeks. Maybe. Maybe not. You should go. You need to go.

Vince, why do you keep saying that? Because if you stay, it’ll be for the wrong reasons, and I don’t want that. Daniel pulled out the chair across from her, sat down. What are the right reasons? I don’t know, but obligation isn’t one of them. What if it’s not obligation? Then what is it? He looked at her, really looked at her. At the woman who’d kept a promise when he’d forgotten it, who’d everything while he’d chased nothing, who was sitting in a house that was too big and too empty, surrounded by the wreckage of a life she’d never asked for.

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