“I meant what I said about you being a good woman. The rest… it’s what needed to be said to win. ”
She nodded. Of course.
—
Her sister Maggie was watching Harper. When they walked in, Maggie took one look at them and grinned. “You won? ”
“We won.
”
Maggie hugged Sarah, then turned to Jake. “Thank you for helping her. For helping our family. ”
Jake nodded, uncomfortable.
“Just doing what was right. ”
After Maggie left and Harper was in bed, Sarah found Jake on the porch. He was staring out at the dark pasture, a coffee mug in his hands. She stood beside him.
“We did it. ”
“We did. ”
“Now what? The agreement was six months to a year.
Then we quietly divorce. ”
Jake was quiet for a long moment. “That was the agreement. ”
“Do you still want that?
”
He turned to look at her. In the dim light, she couldn’t read his expression. “Do you? ”
She thought about the past weeks.
The quiet mornings. Harper climbing into his lap. The way he never flinched when she called him Jake-Dad. “I don’t know,” she said honestly.
He looked back at the sky. “Me neither. ”
They stood there in silence. The Wyoming sky stretched endless and dark above them.
The kind of sky that made you feel both insignificant and capable of anything at the same time. Sarah reached out and took his hand. He didn’t pull away.