#Chapter 10 This is us.

Standing from the bed, I pull a fluffy robe from the back of a chair and wrap myself in it. I reach over and pull open a small drawer in my second-hand dresser. Decorating my new apartment on the budget of my first job has been starkly different than any of the lavish spending I did as Mrs. Kensington. But I love every piece better because I paid for it with money I earned. From the open drawer, I pull out my wedding band. My marriage to Aaron had no ceremony, no blessing, no witnesses, no engagement ring. Only this band has ever symbolized my connection to Aaron. I treasured it for years, allowing myself to believe that it was somehow proof that he loved me. The brief happiness it provided had been enough for a while. Even after I left him, it somehow felt easier to walk away from Aaron himself than part with the ring that had absorbed all my hopes for our future, that had breathed life into me on the days I feared he’d never truly accept me as his mate. I took it off when