Chapter 4

The plane descended through the familiar Oregon clouds, and soon, the lights of Portland twinkled below. Sarah felt the tension in her shoulders ease. This was home.

David was waiting at the gate, Leo perched on his shoulders, waving a hand-drawn "Welcome Home Mommy!" sign. Leo' s bright, gap-toothed smile was the best sight in the world.

"Mommy!" he shrieked, wriggling to get down.

David swung him into Sarah' s arms, and Leo' s hug was tight and warm.

"We missed you," David said, his eyes soft as he kissed her. He was a high school history teacher, solid, kind, with a laugh that always made her feel safe. He also coached the local Little League team.

Their house was a modest craftsman in a quiet neighborhood, filled with Leo' s artwork, David' s books, and the comfortable clutter of family life. Dinner was simple – spaghetti, a salad. Leo chattered about his day at kindergarten, about the caterpillar he' d found. David talked about a new project his students were excited about.

Later, after Leo was asleep, Sarah sat with David on their porch swing, the cool evening air a welcome change from Boston' s humidity. She told him about running into Jessica, about the awkward conversation.

David listened, his arm around her.

"Still trying to rewrite history, huh?" he said, his voice calm.

"It just... brought it all back for a moment," Sarah admitted. "The unfairness of it."

"That life was never you, Sarah," David said gently. "All that pressure, the image. You' re thriving here. We' re happy here."

He was right. Her freelance design business was small but successful. She chose projects she loved, worked with clients who valued her creativity, not her social connections. On weekends, they went to farmers' markets, hiked in the nearby forests, or David coached Leo' s T-ball team, with Sarah cheering from the sidelines, sometimes helping out.

It was a life built on genuine connection, on shared values, not on status or wealth. A stark contrast to the high-pressure, image-conscious world she had left behind in Boston. A world where love could be so easily manipulated, so cruelly discarded. Here, with David and Leo, she was truly herself, truly happy. The encounter with Jessica, the brief dip back into the past, only served to highlight how far she had come, and how much she had to cherish.