He held a sign above his head.
ELEANOR, AGE 68. STILL SAYING YES?
I laughed.
Then I removed a pen from my purse and added one word.
SOMETIMES.
David read the edited sign and smiled.
“That’s much better.”
On my final evening, we returned to the harbor restaurant.
The waiter greeted David by name.
This time, I did not feel frightened.
Clara joined us for dessert.
Before we left, David led me into the courtyard.
For one moment, I remembered standing there a year earlier, listening as the truth changed everything.
David stopped beneath the same yellow lights.
“No surprises,” he said.
“Good.”
“No hidden plans.”
“Even better.”
He took a breath.
“I would like to spend whatever time we have left traveling between your home and mine.”
I studied his face.
“Is that a proposal?”
“It’s a question.”
That difference mattered.
I said yes.
Not because I had once promised to say yes to everything.
That promise belonged to a frightened woman who believed courage meant accepting every experience offered to her.
I know better now.
Sometimes courage means walking away from the courtyard.
