Updated Feb 23, 2026 • ~5 min read
POV: Celeste
I hear everything from the guest room.
Dominic’s voicemails to Rory.
His desperate pleas.
His admission: “I choose you.”
I choose you.
Not Celeste.
Rory.
I sit on the bed, crying.
Because I thought if I fought hard enough, I could win him back.
But you can’t win someone who doesn’t want to be won.
And Dominic doesn’t want me.
Not anymore.
Maybe he never did. Not after I fell asleep for five years.
Nina comes over that afternoon.
Finds me crying in the guest room.
“What happened?”
I tell her. Everything.
The kiss. Rory leaving. Dominic’s realization that he loves her, not me.
Nina listens. Her face hardens.
“He’s making a mistake,” she says.
“Is he? Or am I the mistake for thinking we could go back?”
“You’re his WIFE—”
“On paper. But he doesn’t love me the way a husband should love a wife. He loves me the way you love a memory. Fondly. Sadly. But not actively.”
“That’s the trauma talking—”
“No. It’s reality. I lost five years. I’ve been fighting for a man who’s in love with someone else. And I made him miserable in the process.”
Nina sits next to me.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Drop the annulment petition, maybe. Let him go.”
“You can’t give up—”
“Why not? He already has.”
“Because you DESERVE better than to be abandoned—”
“He didn’t abandon me. I was unconscious. He grieved. He moved on. That’s… that’s actually healthy. What’s NOT healthy is me trying to drag him back to a life he’s outgrown.”
“But the five years—”
“Aren’t his fault. Aren’t anyone’s fault. They just… happened. And I can’t use them as leverage forever.”
Nina takes my hand.
“Are you sure about this?”
“No. But I’m sure that making Dominic stay with me out of guilt is wrong. For both of us.”
That night, I text Dominic: “Can we talk?”
He comes to the guest room immediately.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sit.”
He sits.
I take a breath.
“I’m dropping the annulment petition.”
“What?”
“You love her. I can see it. Hear it. Feel it every time you say her name. And I can’t—I can’t make you love me instead.”
“Celeste—”
“Let me finish. I’ve been fighting so hard to get back what I lost. My dance career. My marriage. My life. But I can’t get any of it back. Those five years are gone. And so is our marriage. Not because of the coma. Because we’re different people now.”
“We could try—”
“No. We couldn’t. Because you’re in love with someone else. And I deserve better than a husband who’s settling.”
“I’m not settling—”
“You would be. If you stayed with me out of guilt instead of love. That’s settling.”
Dominic’s quiet for a long moment.
“I’m sorry,” he finally says. “For all of it. For moving on. For making you think we could go back. For the kiss. For… everything.”
“I’m sorry too. For manipulating you. For using your guilt. For fighting dirty.”
“You were desperate.”
“We both were.”
We sit in silence.
“What happens now?” he asks.
“I move out. Find my own place. Start physical therapy in earnest. Figure out who I am without being ‘Dominic’s wife.'”
“Where will you go?”
“Nina has a friend with an accessible apartment available. Ground floor. No stairs. Perfect for someone relearning to walk.”
“I can help—financially—”
“You already have. The settlement from the accident. The disability payments. I’ll be okay.”
“Celeste—”
“I’ll be okay, Dom. Eventually. So will you. And so will Rory.”
“Rory won’t even talk to me.”
“Then fight for her. The way you should have fought from the beginning.”
“I don’t know if she’ll forgive me.”
“Maybe she won’t. But you owe her the effort.”
Two days later, I move out.
Nina helps me pack.
It doesn’t take long. I don’t have much. Just the clothes Dominic bought for me after I woke up. Some personal items from storage. My physical therapy equipment.
Not much to show for five years of being unconscious.
Dominic watches from the doorway.
“Thank you,” I say. “For taking care of me. While I was in the coma. For visiting. For not giving up entirely.”
“Of course.”
“And thank you for these last few weeks. I know it was hard. Having both of us here.”
“I made it harder than it needed to be.”
“We both did.”
Nina loads the last box.
“Ready?” she asks me.
“Yeah.”
I look at Dominic one more time.
This man I married. Loved. Lost.
“I hope you find happiness,” I tell him. “With Rory. Without her. Whoever. I hope you find it.”
“You too.”
“I will. Eventually. Right now I just need to find myself.”
I leave.
Get in Nina’s car.
As we pull away, I see Dominic standing in the doorway of that house.
Looking lost.
And I realize: I spent three weeks fighting for a man who was already gone.
Not because of Rory.
Because of time.
Time that moved forward while I slept.
Time that changed him into someone new.
Someone I don’t know anymore.
And maybe that’s okay.
Maybe it’s time I let go too.
END OF CHAPTER 18
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