CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
NORA
Eleven Months, Three Weeks
The anniversary approaches through headlines.
Entertainment sites prepare retrospectives. The documentary company announces a special episode about the leak without our participation. Tessa asks whether we want to issue a statement before the date.
"No," I say.
Rhett agrees.
The year does not belong to the clip.
I spend the week photographing a community arts program. Rhett travels for the first playoff round. We speak each night, sometimes for five minutes, sometimes not at all.
He loses game two and does not withdraw.
He wins game three and does not become invincible.
After game four, a sponsor representative asks on camera whether married life has stabilized him. Rhett corrects him.
"I am not married. My relationship is not a performance tool."
Then he talks about hockey.
No dramatic glance at the lens. No private message hidden in public language.
The change has outlasted crisis, success, distance, sex, divorce, and another season.
What remains uncertain is not him.
It is whether I want marriage, with all the legal and emotional risk, rather than the relationship we already have.
I discuss it with Amara alone.
"What does marriage mean to you now?" she asks.
"A public and legal promise. Shared home. Chosen family."
"What did it mean before?"
"Proof I was the person he came home to, even if no one knew."
"Do you still need that proof?"
I think of my apartment key on his ring. My book beside his bed. His schedule on my refrigerator. The way he stays after conflict without blocking exits.
"No," I say. "I want the promise, not the proof."
The answer is quiet.
It is also clear.