Then she noticed the dining table.
The same place where everything had started.
“I was so sure you would agree.”
I looked at her.
“That night?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She took longer to answer than I expected.
“Because they told me you would.”
“Melissa and Brooke?”
She nodded.
“They said men act defensive first. That if I stayed firm, you’d realize it was reasonable.”
I almost smiled.
“So they had a forecast.”
Lauren did not.
“I made you into a problem I had to manage.”
That sentence was the most honest thing she had said since the argument.
I waited.
She looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
No but.
No explanation.
No accusation after it.
Just the words.
I believed her.
It still did not change my decision.
“Thank you.”
Her eyes filled slightly.
“That’s all?”
“I don’t know what else you want me to say.”
“I don’t know either.”
She took the last box.
Then stopped at the front door.
“Were we always this bad?”
“No.”
That answer hurt both of us.
Lauren nodded once.
Then left.
The divorce finalized several months later.
No courtroom confrontation.
No judge giving a speech about respect.
No dramatic victory.