And you know what? I don’t regret a single choice I’ve made since I left you.”
Kevin was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was smaller.
“Taylor, please. You have to help me fix this.”
“I don’t have to do anything for you ever again. You made your bed of thorns, Kevin.
Now you get to lie in it.”
I hung up the phone and blocked his number. Then I blocked him on social media, messaging app, and every possible way he could reach me.
“Think he’ll leave you alone now?” Oscar asked as we walked back to his house.
“Oh, he’ll leave me alone,” I said, looking back at the fence one last time. “He’s going to be too busy dealing with the consequences of his own actions.”
Oscar took my hand.
“I’m proud of you.”
“For what?”
“For being strong enough to walk away. For being brave enough to start over… and for laughing instead of crying when life handed you this moment.”
I squeezed his hand. “You know what the funny thing is?
Kevin was right about one thing. I will never find anyone who’ll put up with me the way he did! Because I’ll never again settle for someone who just ‘puts up with me.’ I deserve someone who celebrates me and builds me up instead of tearing me down.
Someone who chooses me every single day, not someone who makes me feel grateful for scraps of basic decency.”
Kevin never contacted me again. I heard through mutual friends that he struggled to find work after Mr. Harrison made good on his promise about the recommendation letter.
He moved away from Riverdale eventually, probably to start fresh somewhere else.
As for me? I married Oscar two years later. We kept his house, our house now, and the fence got repainted, by the way!
Mr. Harrison chose a lovely shade of blue. It looks much better than whatever Kevin had in mind.
And me?
I’ve never regretted leaving him. Not for one second. Not even 0.001 percent.
Because sometimes the best revenge isn’t revenge at all… it’s building a life so beautiful that your past can’t touch it.
Source: amomama
