One Hundred Reasons To Walk Away

ed "The Song of a Hundred Reasons." Each forgotten anniversary and dismissive glanc

ot as a quiet slight, b

ton didn't hesitate. He shoved his "best friend" Bailey to saf

th broken ribs and a severe

y Bailey to a luxury retreat for her "panic attack." H

ned the divorce papers from my h

hit album "Song of a Hundred Reasons,"

pte

Lynn

the back of Ashton' s massive, chaotic desk drawer, under a stack of old project blueprints and a half-ea

like a diary. It felt heavy in my hands, a silent

s snake, had already coiled a

of a Hundre

on the first page, just like me. My stomach clenche

f rules. My rules. Rules I

logs an instan

tance deduc

l point

ints reach zer

Song of a Hundred Reasons' ? How melodramatic. How perfectly me at som

on' s phone, vibrating silently on the corner of t

ject compromised. You

paper cut, small but sharp. I opened the book again, this time with a different intention. My eyes scanned the pages, skipping through the early, hesitant entries. They were n

k, but added up, they f

a 'crisis meeting' with Bailey, the

ond the first chorus, then spent an hour on the phone w

ducing me as 'Ashton's wife' while gushing about

miliar twisting in my gut. This wasn't par

ataloged these slights, believing that if I could just show him

iar sound that used to bring a flutter of anticipation, now just a dull thud

his phone. He didn' t even see me stand

id, my voice b

ed to find me in his house. "Elise. Y

id, the words tastin

ded, already turning back to his phone. "I have to head out agai

unch to the gut. Not because of the server, but beca

my brain. My hand instinctively went to the desk drawer, pulling out the ledger again

l ache in my chest. The words

A catastrophic server failu

y stomach loosened, replaced by a cold resolve. This wasn'