Page 95 of One More Chance
Letters about how much I had hurt her. I was terrified to read them, but I knew I would need to… if she would allow me the privilege.
Sloane studied me, weighing whether she trusted this version of me. I couldn't blame her hesitation. It was a leap of faith.
"I might," she finally said. "If you're willing to read them without getting defensive. Without trying to fix or explain away every emotion I have."
I nodded. "I won't defend myself. I won't interrupt your truth."
She raised an eyebrow. "Even if it hurts?"
"Especially if it hurts," I said, voice low. "Because I caused that hurt. And I can't rebuild anything with you unless I face it all."
Sloane glanced away, blinking rapidly. "Okay," she said softly. "Then I'll start. One letter at a time."
Liam appeared in the doorway, hovering uncertainly. His expression mixed curiosity with protectiveness. I knew he was still figuring out my place in his mother's heart.
Sloane noticed him and smiled gently. "Hey bud. Want to come sit for a sec?"
He joined reluctantly, sliding into the seat beside her.
"I did a therapy session today," she said, running her fingers through his hair. "And I talked about how everything's been affecting me. And about your dad."
Liam nodded slowly. "Was it... weird?"
"A little," she admitted with a soft laugh. "But good. My therapist suggested I try writing love letters to your dad. Not mushy ones. Real ones. About what it felt like. What changed in me. What still hurts."
Liam turned to me, eyes narrowed. "You gonna read them?"
I answered before Sloane could. "Only if she wants me to. But yeah, I'll read every word. As many as she writes. I'll even let you write me letters as a freebie."
He laughed before his expression sobered. "You really are trying your best dad."
My son. My boy. Fuck, I almost lost him too.
"I'm trying," she said. "And that doesn't mean I've decided everything. It just means I'm willing to explore what healing could look like."
Liam sat back, quiet for a moment. Then he said, "That's cool." The teenage equivalent of approval.
I chuckled. "Well, maybe therapy is something we can all use, to build the tools we need to emotionally regulate and process."
And I meant it. The tools I had learned from years and years of therapy in my previous life were one of the main reasons I was able to admit my mistakes and grow. It's one of the traits that separated the Old me from… me.
Tears welled in Sloane's eyes as she pulled him into a hug. "I love you." Her words carried so much raw emotion. I saw the strength she'd built in herself. I loved her even more for the woman she'd become, desperate to join her on that journey.
Chapter 32
Dear Levi,
I don’t know how to start this, or where it’s supposed to go. The therapist said I didn’t need to make sense, but I needed to be honest. So here it is. My honesty.
You broke me.
And I hate how cliché that sounds, but it’s the truth. You shattered something I thought was unbreakable between us. For so long, I carried the weight of our life… our kids, my job, the appointments, the emotional labor you never saw and I did it gladly, because I believed we were a team. Even when we drifted, even when I was exhausted, I believed you were still with me.
But you weren’t. You were with her.
And I felt it, you know? Long before I knew the truth, I felt the distance growing like a void I couldn’t name. I blamed myself at first. Thought I wasn’t enough. Maybe I was too tired. Maybe I’d stopped being the version of me you wanted. Maybe if I’d been more… more attentive, more sexual, more everything? Maybe you wouldn’t have looked elsewhere.
It took me months to realize: your betrayal wasn’t about me being less. It was about you not seeing me at all.
