“You’re a genius,” Shauna laughed.
“Three dollars on the card. That’s classic. I can just imagine how your mother‑in‑law reacted when they cornered her at the bank.”
Kiana smirked.
It was funny to picture.
“All right. You know, I’m not even angry at them,” she confessed. “More like pity. It’s a shame I wasted five years on a person capable of that.”
Shauna reached across the table and covered Kiana’s hand with hers.
“Don’t regret it. Five years isn’t forever. The important thing is that you realized it in time and left. Some people live with folks like that their whole lives and suffer.”
Kiana nodded.
Shauna was right.
The main thing was that she hadn’t closed her eyes, endured it, or forgiven him.
She had left.
And that was the right thing to do.
They stayed up until midnight talking about nonsense—work, vacation plans, the new series Shauna was binging.
Kiana listened, laughed, drank tea with honey, and felt the tension of the past few days gradually melt away.
She got home late.
The apartment greeted her with silence and darkness.
Kiana turned on the light and walked through the rooms.
Everything was in place.
Everything was calm.
She went to bed and, for the first time in several weeks, fell asleep immediately, without anxious thoughts or nightmares.
The following week, Kiana took a day off and went to the county clerk’s office downtown.
Filing for divorce turned out to be surprisingly simple.
