Chapter 10 - The Maple Tree
One year later.
The autumn air in the Short North was crisp and smelled of roasted coffee and fallen leaves.
I stood on the brick balcony of my second-story apartment, holding a warm mug of spiced cider between both hands, watching the evening crowd stroll down High Street toward the local art galleries.
My life was completely unrecognizable from the quiet, suffocating existence I had lived on Maple Crest Lane.
With my seventy-percent share of the house sale, along with the full reimbursement of my retirement contributions, I had wiped out every penny of my student loans and put a substantial down payment on this beautiful brick-and-beam loft.
Six months ago, I was promoted to Department Director of Patient Financial Services at the hospital, earning a salary that gave me complete, unapologetic financial independence.
There were no more late-night compromises.
No more walking on eggshells around a fragile male ego.
No more diminishing my own intelligence and worth so that a man could feel important while chasing the ghosts of his college years.
My phone rang on the glass patio table.
It wasn't a private number or a lawyer’s office. It was Chloe.
""Hey, big sister,"" Chloe’s voice sang through the speaker. ""Are you ready for dinner? Marcus and I are downstairs outside the bakery.""
""Give me two minutes,"" I laughed, setting down my mug. ""I’m just grabbing my coat.""
As I walked back through my living room, my gaze caught the corner of my bookshelf.
There, displayed inside a simple, elegant black wooden frame, was a photograph Marcus had taken of me on the afternoon we moved out of Dylan’s house.
I was standing beside the large maple tree in the front yard, my hair blown wild by the October wind, my coat unbuttoned, looking straight into the lens.
I wasn't smiling in the photo.
My expression was calm, resolute, and completely unreadable.
Underneath the frame, carved into the small silver plaque Chloe had made for my thirty-second birthday, were the six words that had saved my life:
You were right about one thing.
Dylan had been right. I hadn't trusted him.
May you like
And learning to finally trust myself instead had been the greatest victory of my life.
I grabbed my keys, slipped on my wool coat, and walked out the door into the golden evening light, ready to meet the future I had built with my own two hands."
