I know that I was a shitty husband, and you should have had better at the end of the day. But from the minute I saw you in Algebra, junior year, I wanted you for myself. And I have you. I don’t know if I love you, honestly. You can be such a royal pain in my ass, and you complain constantly, but you’re beautiful, and that’s all that really matters. Oh, and if I am dead, go ahead and tell your brothers to fuck right off. I hate those assholes.

Take the money and do what you want with it. It’s yours. And, yeah, I’m a shit, but I do hope you have a great life, Mags. Better than what you had with me.

J.

Cam takes the letter from my hands, skims it, then folds it and puts it back in the envelope.

“He was a prick,” he says at last.

“Yeah, I don’t feel so bad anymore.” I blink, surprised by how light I feel. “Okay, let’s see what this is.”

The box is hefty, and when I push the lid open, diamonds shine in the sunlight.

“Holy shit.”

Cam looks over my shoulder. “There have to be a hundred karats here.”

The necklace looks like it should be on the neck of royalty. It glitters and shines when I move it from side to side.

“What in the hell am I going to do with it?”

“You don’t have to decide today. Or any other day. Put it away, and deal with it later.”

I nod thoughtfully. “You’re right, there’s no rush. Although, I’ll never wear it. It’s…gaudy.”

I close the box and then stare over at Cam.

“It’s over.”

He nods slowly. “Was it worse than you thought?”

“No.” I ponder the question and reach for an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table. I’m suddenly starving. “Not harder. But not easy, either. About what I expected, actually.”

“And now that it’s over, how do you feel?”

“Lighter.” I take a bite of the apple. “A lot lighter, actually. You know what’s funny? That letter didn’t hurt my feelings.”

His eyebrow goes up, and he starts to protest, but I keep talking.

“I’m serious. He said so much worse to me when he was alive. I didn’t really expect much more from him. I knew he didn’t love me. You don’t treat people you love like that. And I wanted to love him. But I didn’t. Hell, I laughed at his funeral.”

“I think that probably happened out of shock,” he says kindly.