“…I was hoping you’d never find me.”

I just stood there, frozen. My mouth opened, but nothing came out. She looked at me like she wanted to explain everything and run away at the same time.

“I didn’t plan to leave like that,” she said quietly. “I—I just couldn’t do it anymore. I wasn’t okay.”

“You left your baby, Lisa. You left me,” I finally said, my voice trembling.

Tears welled up in her eyes. “I know. And I live with that every day. But I’m not the same person I was back then.”

I didn’t know what hurt more—the fact that she had vanished without a trace, or the fact that she had built a life somewhere else, in silence, while I held everything together.

But I had one question burning in my chest:
“Does Noah know you’re alive?”

Her eyes dropped.
“No… but if you’ll let me, I’d like to fix that.”