Harper
**Harper, six weeks was never a date I intended to keep.**
I stopped reading.
The sentence sat alone at the top of the page, surrounded by all the empty white space Gavin had once filled with promises.
Six weeks.
He had given me a number because numbers felt solid. Measurable. Something I could mark on a calendar and believe I was moving toward.
He had watched me count down to a day he knew would never arrive.
I forced myself to continue.
**Every time you asked when I would leave, I chose a date far enough away to calm you and close enough to keep you from walking away. I told myself I needed time for the children, but the truth is that I needed time because I was afraid to lose either life.**
My hands began to shake.
Not either woman.
Either life.
Natalie was birthdays,
