Part 1:
I believed that saying goodbye to the man I had loved for most of my life would be the most painful thing I would ever have to endure.
I made a mistake.
The real reason why Thomas had returned was not revealed until after his departure.
The rain gently tapped against the window of my small rented apartment as I sat alone, stirring a cup of instant coffee that my budget barely allowed.
At seventy-three, I returned to the town I had left when I was seventeen. The buildings had changed, the shops had different names, and many familiar faces were gone.
However, somehow, the streets still reminded me of them.
My pension wasn’t enough to cover the ever-increasing rent and daily expenses, so I took my old nurse’s badge out of a drawer, bought a new uniform, and went back to work at the local hospital.
It was the same profession I had retired from years before.