She turned off that gravel driveway and headed home. It wasn’t far, 20 minutes or so. Ten minutes in she approached that right turn off the highway and felt that familiar scream inside herself to change course, continue straight, and drive until she was lost. Today she listened. She ended up six hours north in a small town that most people forget while it’s still visible in their rear-view mirror. It had a pub with rentable rooms. The owner was kind. When she woke up the next morning to a missed call from work, she nearly tipped headlong into embarrassment. Yet, this was the first time her lungs had been able to fully expand in months.

He had gone inside after he couldn’t hear her car anymore. He watered his new choices with alcohol and grease. Change hurt but at least it was a fresh wound. A clean wound. Those would heal if you let them. Take care, get better, let it scar over. It would get easier when Spring arrived.