"At seventy-three, I married my dy:ing high school sweetheart because it was his final wish. The morning after his funeral, his attorney appeared at my door, looked me in the eyes, and said, “Thomas was right. You walked straight into his trap.” I never imagined I would become a bride at my age. Thomas had been my first love when we were both seventeen. Back then, I had earned a place at a college in another city, while he planned to remain in our hometown and help run h… Voir plus

Part 1:
I believed saying goodbye to the man I had loved for most of my life would be the most painful thing I would ever endure.

I was wrong.

The true reason Thomas had returned to me was not revealed until after he was gone.

Rain tapped gently against the window of my small rented apartment as I sat alone, stirring a cup of instant coffee that my budget could barely afford.

At seventy-three, I had returned to the town I had left when I was seventeen. The buildings had changed, the shops had different names, and many familiar faces were gone.Yet somehow, the streets still remembered me.

My pension was not enough to cover the rising rent and everyday expenses, so I had taken my old nursing badge from a drawer, bought a new uniform, and returned to work at the local  hospital.

It was the same profession I had retired from years earlier.

Coming home was strange.

Almost nothing looked the way I remembered, but everything carried the same feeling.

I had never  married.