Broken Bonds, New Bloom

sound that settled the dust on a life I no longer recognized. He stamped

ce gr

f course, he wasn' t. Duty had called, as it always did. A last-minute tra

ugly feeling in my throat. Even a

. My lawyer gave my shoulder a supportive

e courthouse and into the blinding afternoon su

ast day. The familiar scent of engine oil and stale coffee hung in the air.

tle town? Nothing ever happens there," one of my

le. "A quiet life so

ield. They knew I was going through a rough patch, but they didn't pry. They just offered silent

his arm wrapped tightly around my shoulders. He looked so handsome in his uniform, his eyes filled with a light I h

osed to share, when I saw him. Daniel was standing by my apartment building's entrance, blocking t

painful thud a

aid, his voice

niel," I said, m

ed to

the papers." I tried to push past him, but

't sign

awyer will

Why are you doing th

everything, Daniel? The secret wedding? The years of me hiding in the

t that simple. You kn

has you wrapped around her littl

oken resentments. Then, his eyes softened, a flicker of the man

the chaos of the divorce and the trans

is pocket. "I remembered. I wanted to surprise

y chest, a hope I had tried so hard to kill. Ma

screen, and the soft look in his eyes v

his face growing more and more grim. "Okay, okay

mixture of apology and resignation. "I have

withered and died.

oice flat and lifeless. "

olding out the

Dan

ving me alone in the hall

, my lungs screaming for air. Daniel was on the shore, but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Olivia, wh

g, my shirt soak

I couldn't spend the rest of my life fighting for

papers," I told him. "Cite irreconcilable differences.

izing the last of my packing. I was taping u

ifeline, was Olivia. She looked at me, her eyes wide and innocent, but I saw the triumphant little smirk she couldn't quite