She herself had no idea what she was going to do with her life, and did not at that point particularly care. Her grades were average, his were perfect; her social skills as inadequate as her father’s, his impeccable. So she was taken completely by surprise when he asked her out on the bus ride home that night. They had gotten along wonderfully together right from the start, and by the end of the year she found herself accepting his proposal of marriage with an almost eerie feeling of unreality. If this were a fairy tale or a dream, she never wanted to wake up. They had a few fights as everyone does, but nothing ever came of them. Her friends loved him; there were no problems, and their life together began with no regrets. “Some people have all the luck,” her best friend and maid of honor had said, not without envy. And Helen had finally believed it was true when Jessica was born.

But as she got older, things weren’t always right with Jessie. She was stubborn and obsessive, and sometimes the way she knew certain things was just a little bit scary. It put a lot of stress on their marriage. And then David had lost his job. Things had started unraveling, slowly at first, then faster as the money ran out. She tried not to blame him because it wasn’t his fault, not really. Still, it was his decision to quit, and the only thing she could really blame him for (though even that was unfair, wasn’t it?); he could have swallowed his pride and continued on. They would have kept him. But it was the right thing to do, she reminded herself. At least it seemed to be at the time.

She realized that she still loved him. There had never been much doubt about that, but it was good to actually think it again. He still sent shivers down her back, and she got goose bumps at his touch. And he was a wonderful father. Jessie’s problems had only caused him to heap more attention on her. Helen teased him about worrying that he was not good enough with her, but it really wasn’t true. They were buddies from the start. And in the six months since he had been out of work, they had become even closer.