We went our separate ways. Weeks passed. Spring gave way to summer. Then he did something I had never expected. He came back. However, he wasn’t the same person I had left. He told me something that nobody has ever told me in all my years, he told me that he wanted to fight for us, for me. In my life, I am accustomed to people walking, if not outright running, sideways like a crab at high tide away from me. Instead, he not only told me, but he showed me all the work he was doing for and on himself. He took accountability for all of his his prior actions which had resulted in hurt. He showed remorse, not just regret. Against my better judgment, and with the Greek chorus of my friends and family screaming at me not to, I accepted this new version of him tentatively back into my life. It was a provisional arrangement. A limited trial. I’ll admit I was skeptical. We are now staring down the ends of summer and he is still here, still working on bettering himself, the same as I am.