Claire’s POV
The drive back to the house was quiet, the subtle hum of the engine intermingling with the weight of revelations that had unfurled before me. Tonight had peeled back layers of truth, exposing raw emotions that had been long buried. My mind had meticulously processed it all, each moment, each confession, yet my heart remained ensnared in the clutches of denial. Love, it seemed, had woven a tapestry of pain and hardship around my soul.
Derrick's infidelity mirrored my own transgressions, a tangled web of deceit that ensnared us both. Perhaps, in hindsight, I should have forgone my own lapse in judgment, perhaps I should have committed to a life with him, bound by the sanctity of marriage. It wasn't that I hadn't loved Derrick; how could one not, after sharing so much of life t
