There was no captain issuing orders and no boss arranging a date.
There were simply two people who had loved someone deeply, lost them suddenly, and spent years believing moving forward required leaving them behind.
I took Cara’s hand.
Jennifer was still part of my life.
Ben was still part of hers.
Nothing about that night changed the past, and neither of us wanted it to.
What changed was something quieter.
For the first time since Jennifer died, the empty chair across from me did not feel like evidence of everything I had lost.
Someone was sitting there because she had chosen to be.
And I had chosen to let her.
