My throat tightened.
“So how did you do it?”
“I loved myself enough to leave anyway.”
The words hit me harder than I expected.
Jill leaned forward slightly.
“I was not trying to make Eric jealous. I was not testing him. I did not walk away because I thought he would panic and chase me. Honestly, I thought I was ending any chance we would ever have.”
“Were you scared he would let you go?”
“Terrified.”
“What if he had?”
She went quiet.
“Then I would have survived.”
I blinked back tears.
“I did not believe that at first,” she added. “I thought losing him would destroy me. But staying where I was had already started doing that.”
A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. I wiped it away quickly, embarrassed even though Jill had already seen.
“I do not know if I am stron
