Page 194 - It Ends with Us

I’d have just left, would tha t no t be going agains t our marri age vows?

For better or for worse. I ref use to give up on my marriage tha t ea sily.
I am a strong woman. I’ve been around abusive situations my who le
life. I will nev er bec ome my mother. I bel iev e tha t a hu nd red perc ent .
And R yle will nev er bec ome my father. I thi nk we ne ed ed wha t
ha ppened on the stair wel l to ha ppen so tha t I would kno w hi s past
and we’d be able to work on it toget her.

Last week we got int o ano ther fig ht .
I was scared . The other two fig ht s we’d gotten int o did no t end
wel l, and I knew thi s would be a tes tament to whet her or no t our
agreement for me to hel p hi m thro ugh hi s ang er would work.
We were discussing hi s career. He’s fini shed with hi s res idenc y no w
and there’ s a three- mont h specialized course in Cambridge, Eng land ,
he applied for. He’l l find out soon if he was approved , but tha t’s no t

why I was upset . It’s a grea t opportuni ty and I’d nev er ask hi m no t to
go. Three mont hs is no thi ng with ho w busy we are, so tha t wasn’t ev en
wha t got me so upset . I bec ame upset when he discussed wha t he
want ed to do af ter the Cambridge trip was over.
He was offered a job in Minnes ota at the Mayo Clini c and he want s
us to move there. He said Mass Genera l is rated the sec ond bes t

neu rological ho spital in the world. Mayo Clini c is nu mber one.
He said he nev er int end ed to stay in Boston forev er. I told hi m tha t
would ha ve been a good subjec t to bring up when we discussed our
futures on the flight to get marri ed in Veg as. I can’t lea ve Boston. My
mother lives here. Allysa lives here. He told me it was onl y a fiv e- ho ur
flight and tha t we could visit as often as we want ed . I told hi m it was
pret ty ha rd to run a floral busines s when you live sev era l states away.

The fig ht cont inu ed to es calate and both of us were get ting ang rier
by the sec ond . At one point , he kno cked a vase full of flowers off the
table and ont o the floor. We both just stared at them for a moment . I
was scared , wond eri ng if I ha d made the right dec ision to stay. To
trust tha t we could work on hi s ang er issues toget her. He took a deep
brea th and he said, “I’m going to lea ve for an ho ur or two. I thi nk I

need to walk away. When I get back, we’l l cont inu e thi s discussion. ”
He walked out the door and , true to hi s word, he came back an
ho ur later when he was much calmer. He dropped hi s key s on the
table and then walked straight to where I was stand ing . He took my