It had been exactly a year since Emily stood at the edge of the cemetery, feeling the weight of the earth settle on her husband’s grave. A year since she’d said goodbye to the man she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with. But life, as it always did, kept moving. The world outside hadn’t stopped for her grief.
She stared at her reflection in the cabin mirror as the cruise ship sailed into the open sea. The horizon stretched endlessly, the sun reflecting in warm golds across the waves. But what stared back at her was not the same woman who used to laugh without worry. It was someone hollowed out, someone surviving on routine.