“Let’s put it this way, the last time a man took me out to a fancy dinner, I’m not even sure the iPhone was released yet,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

He looked at her with such big, sincere eyes, her stomach suddenly hurt. “What the hell did your ex-husband do to you?”

Well, let’s see. Russ completely blindsided me, giving me an eternal feeling of being on edge, of never being able to truly relax. He robbed me of my self-confidence. He left me to raise our child alone. He took away my ability to trust.

“Russell had an affair with Tansy’s kindergarten teacher,” she said, her voice small. “He didn’t even tell me to my face. I woke up on a Saturday morning late in May, and there was this stupidly clichéd ‘Dear Renee’ note sitting on his pillowcase.”

It wasn’t even two-sided—Russ was much too concise for that. He wrote that he and Ms. Samantha had fallen in love after he helped chaperone the Halloween party. (Renee had only missed it since she came down with the flu. Go figure.) He didn’t take much. Just a few suitcases. And her hopes and dreams.

“They moved to Vermont, thank God, so I don’t have to see them around town.” She sighed, trying not to let the hurt show. “They got married and have three kids now. Tansy visits them occasionally, but not much. It’s a shame. He may have broken my heart, but he’s still her father.”

And there it was, the truth: Russell had broken Renee’s heart.

Torn it into pieces, stomped on it.

She remembered tearing his devastating letter into shreds before balling a corner of the down comforter in her hands. She sobbed into the duvet. She screamed into it. She leapt from their bed and grabbed their framed wedding portrait. The sound of the glass shattering against the hardwood floor had been shocking, painful, and strangely satisfying.

She would never forget glaring at the photograph lying there amid all the glass and thinking, You stupid girl. Why didn’t you see this coming?

Russell had a wandering eye and a restless spirit from the moment Renee met him. She’d thought it was exciting and dashing.

She’s been an idiot.

“Mommy?” Tansy had appeared in the doorway only a few minutes later. “Are you okay? I heard a big bang.”

Quickly, Renee had wiped her tears and plastered the hugest, fakest smile across her splotchy face. “Yep! I was just trying to kill a spider. What would you like for breakfast, sweetheart?”

And that was that.

Renee was forced to dust off her knees, get up, and move on. She had a daughter to raise and a house to take care of. She would need to start job-searching on Monday. She was the breadwinner now.

There simply wasn’t time to fall apart.