Ordinary problems.

Ordinary rent.

Ordinary responsibility.

Not arguments about whether I was selfish for refusing to give it away.

Aaron apologized too.

“I kept thinking you’d find some arrangement,” she said. “You always do. I made it your job to keep everything from becoming messy.”

“Living with Vanessa behind my house would have been messy too.”

“I know.”

Then she said, “Next time I tell you I’m trying to help, ask me who I’m helping.”

About six weeks after the breakup, Colin asked to meet again.

His message was different.

No solutions.

No hotel links.

No arguments.

He said he wanted to apologize without expecting me to make a decision afterward.

I agreed to coffee.

For a while, we talked about work.

Then he finally said, “I tried to help Vanessa with two months of rent. I couldn’t afford it without taking money from other things.”