She smiled.
“You sound annoyingly reasonable.”
“I learned from your son.”
“That is absolutely not true.”
We both laughed.
Then Diane grew quiet.
“I think I was trying to prove something.”
“To Ethan?”
“To myself.”
She looked toward the ocean.
“I wanted to prove I wasn’t the sad widow everybody needed to watch.”
“You’re not.”
“I know that now.”
She took a sip of wine.
“But I also don’t need a man to prove it.”
Malcolm sent Diane one message about three weeks later.
No long speech.
No request to reconsider.
He apologized for pushing too hard and said he hoped she kept traveling.
Diane replied:
Thank you. I hope you find someone who wants the same future at the same speed.
That was the last time they spoke.
But the bigger change happened between Diane and Ethan.
He stopped calling every morning.
At first, that worried Diane.
