From Savior To Scapegoat

with roasted potatoes and asparagus. It felt like a ritual, a proper way to close a nine-year chapter of my

ing her leather briefcase

at the carefully set table. There was n

dinner," I

ighed, running a hand through her perfectly s

anila folder, dropping it on the tablecloth next

ce pa

il after we eat?" I a

here I stand. I have a new life now, a real future. We' re in different worlds, Ethan

sed. She was talking about our life together like it

. I' d bought it from a pawn shop after saving for months. At the time, she' d cried and sa

, my heart a lead weight in

o tremble, and her eyes welled up with tears. It was a performance I knew all too well

a single tear tracing a perfect path down her cheek. "You know I' m only

I would have done anything to make them stop, t

too perfect. The love I felt for her, the all-consuming devotion that had fueled me for nine years, f

ed up

" I asked. My voi