“Completely.”
“Good Lord. Did everyone survive?”
“Barely.”
We both laughed.
Then my phone buzzed.
Aurora wanted me.
Comparable salary.
Better retirement match.
Flexible start date.
I read the email twice before Mark asked, “You got it?”
I nodded.
He didn’t celebrate immediately.
Instead, he asked, “Do you want it?”
That question was harder.
I thought about my office at Riverside, my friend Denise down the hall, the house we had spent twelve years making ours, the pharmacist who knew me, our neighbors, and the maple tree we planted after my mother died.
People talk about moving as though mountains automatically turn change into adventure.
They don’t.
Sometimes moving just means leaving a dentist you finally trust.
But I also thought about Mark declining the same opportunity three times because everyone had quietly decided his availability belonged to them.
“I think I do.”
He reached across the couch and took my hand.
