“I wrote that last letter because I knew if we kept talking, there was a chance I would run back to you.”
“And cutting me out completely seemed better?”
“No.”
A sad smile crossed his face.
“I thought it was the responsible thing to do.”
He sighed.
“I was wrong.”
I held his hand.
“Did Margaret know?”
“Eventually.”
“What did she say?”
Jeffrey smiled.
“She said we were two of the stupidest people she had ever heard of.”
I laughed.
Jeffrey laughed too.
Even Peter smiled.
“She sounds smart,” I said.
“She was.”
Margaret had died several years earlier.
After her death, Jeffrey considered contacting me many times.
But every time, he stopped himself.
“I didn’t know if I had the right anymore.”
“You could have tried.”
“I know.”
I shook my head.
“So we lost more than forty years because everyone kept deciding what was best for everyone else.”
