Years softened the scandal, but not the memory. He was just another forgotten face now—the man who left his wife at a gas station. When he finally laughed again, over something inconsequential, the sound startled him. It felt like it belonged to someone else.
He tried dating once. She was a woman who worked at the shelter. It lasted two weeks. She said he seemed kind but unreachable, as if half his soul lived elsewhere. She wasn’t wrong. There were places inside him no one could visit anymore.