Going home felt strange.
Almost nothing resembled how he remembered it, but everything conveyed the same feeling.
I had never been married.
I had never had children.
Over the years, I’ve had a few relationships and several kind men have tried to build a life with me.
But none of them had ever been Thomas.
He had not spoken her name aloud in more than fifty years.
Thomas had been my first love.
We were both seventeen when we met, young enough to believe that promises could last forever simply because we meant them when we made them.
I had earned a place at a university in another city.
Thomas had chosen to stay in the city and work in his father’s hardware store.
The day I left, she was by my side at the bus station with tears in her eyes.
“Please don’t go, Nancy,” he pleaded.
“I have to do it,” I told him. “I’ve worked too hard to pass up this opportunity.”