Years after her husband passed away, Lila struggled with loneliness. Her children were grown and had moved to other cities, leaving her with an empty house and too much time to think.
She often thought of Ethan during those quiet moments. She wondered if he had ever truly been happy or if, like her, he had spent years pushing aside certain feelings for the sake of preserving what was already good.
One evening, she called him after months of silence.
"Ethan, do you think we should've done things differently?"
Ethan's voice was calm, as it always was. "We made the choices we thought were right at the time, Lila. And look at all the beautiful things those choices gave us."
Lila smiled through her tears. "You always know the right thing to say."