Had I somehow failed without even realizing it?
Those questions had consumed me once.
But time has a strange way of changing the questions you carry.
Standing there now, I wasn’t jealous.
I wasn’t angry.
More than anything, I was surprised by how little power the sight of them had over me anymore.
Trent apparently mistook my silence for discomfort.
He stepped a little closer.
“You look good, Sienna.”
“Thank you.”
He waited for me to compliment him back.
I didn’t.
Corinne glanced at him.
Something silent passed between them.
Then Trent smiled again.
I knew that smile.
It was the same expression he used throughout our marriage whenever he thought he had already won an argument before I had even responded.
“You know,” he said quietly, “I used to wonder if I had made the right choice.”
I said nothing.
Corinne slipped her hand around his arm.
Trent continued.
“But seeing you tonight…”
He stopped on purpose.
He wanted to make sure I was listening.
He wanted his words to hurt.
Then he finally delivered the sentence he had apparently brought into that ballroom specifically to say to me.
“Leaving you was the best decision I ever made.”
Corinne lowered her eyes, but I caught the smile she was trying not to show.
I looked directly at Trent.
Five years earlier, hearing those words might have shattered something inside me.
Tonight, they didn’t.
So I gave him the response he clearly hadn’t prepared for.
I smiled.
There was no sarcasm in it.
No anger.
Just calm.
“Then I suppose everything worked out exactly the way it was supposed to.”
For the first time, Trent looked unsure.
He had expected some kind of reaction.
Maybe an argument.
Maybe tears.
Maybe proof that even after five years, he could still make me feel small.
Instead, I adjusted the bracelet around my wrist and looked toward the dance floor.
“Enjoy the wedding, Trent.”
I was just about to walk away when I heard quick footsteps behind me.
Then a little voice called out.
Loud.
Excited.
Completely unaware of the tension between the adults nearby.
“Mom!”
I turned just as a six-year-old girl came running across the ballroom.
She wrapped both arms around my waist.
I laughed and immediately crouched down to hug her.
“There you are.”
Behind me, Trent became completely silent.
I could feel his eyes fixed on us.
Corinne was staring too.
The little girl grabbed my hand and immediately started telling me something so quickly that half the words ran together.
