Gloria woke with a start. Her apartment was dark and quiet. Aldo’s t-shirt, the one she’d liberated from his dresser, stuck to her face when she slowly sat up. She hadn’t expected to feel so many emotions when taking this stand.

Her head hurt from the crying jag she’d allowed herself after confronting Aldo. Her eyes were swollen, but she felt liberated.

She had wanted to matter to him so much. She’d wanted that future he’d talked about. Desperately. But not with a man who didn’t think she deserved an explanation. Not with the Aldo Moretta who came home a stranger. He had shadows on his own soul now.

She checked her phone, telling herself it was only to see the time. But she still bit her lip when she saw there were no messages, no missed calls.

He was hurting. Not just physically. There was a hole in Aldo Moretta’s spirit. She knew from experience that no one else could fix it. Not her mother, not a sharp-tongued doctor. She had to be the one to pull herself from the murk. Aldo had to do the same.

She stroked a hand over the t-shirt once and then, biting her lip, folded it neatly and stuffed it in the back of her second-hand dresser that she’d found on the cheap at a yard sale.

She’d put him away and focus on building this new life for herself. And she’d hope that Aldo would find the strength to heal from his own wounds.

Feeling a little extra lonely, Gloria padded into her kitchen to make a dinner for one.

36

The Fourth of July dawned hot and humid with no thunderstorms in the forecast. And Benevolence was ready for it. Every inch of Main Street was decked out in patriotic bunting. The park was groomed within an inch of its life, ready, for a few thousand people to tromp through it eating cotton candy and winning goldfish.

Three stories above it all, Gloria stared at her reflection in the mirror. “Do not freak out,” she cautioned. “You worked hard and did the absolute best you could. If it’s a total flop, you can slink out of town and start a new life under an assumed name.”

Maybe Margot? She could sell insurance. Run a book club. Meet a nice guy named Todd or James and go to Applebee’s every Tuesday for date night.

Plan B settled, Gloria tied a wide red bandana around her dark hair. She looked…ready.