On the Ruins of His Regret I Soar novel Chapter 147

He even bent down to get a pair of slippers for her.

Jessica was taken aback. The last time he’d done that was when she was in the final months of her pregnancy with Amy. She slipped them on and walked over to the sofa.

As he approached, she looked up at him. “So, you’re finally ready to sign the divorce papers?”

“Let’s not talk about that just yet,” he said, pulling a stack of photographs from under the coffee table. “I was tidying up today and found some of Amy’s baby pictures. Take a look.”

He handed them to her. Jessica’s eyes welled up as she looked at a photo of Amy at just over a year old, wobbling around the house like a busy little bird. She remembered how Amy would walk until she was so exhausted she’d cry, and how she and Lance would take turns massaging her tired little legs.

Another photo showed Lance holding Amy in a baby carrier while lifting weights in their home gym. Amy was staring at their reflection in the mirror, her expression one of utter confusion, as if wondering why there were two of her. There were photos of him teaching her to shoot a basketball, and many more.

They were memories buried deep within her, tangible proof that they had once been happy, that their life together had been good. But that was all they were—proof of a past that no longer existed. They served only as a mirror, reflecting the raw, painful scars of the present.

She placed the photos back on the table.

A bitter smile twisted Lance’s lips. “Don’t you even care about your own child anymore?”

“I care about her,” Jessica said quietly. “I just don’t care about the past.”

He moved closer to her and reached out his hand. She flinched back instinctively. His hand, which had been about to touch her cheek, froze in mid-air before he let it drop.

He laughed, though it was impossible to tell if he was mocking her or himself. “Even if we divorce, I’m still your husband. Why are you so distant now?” He reminisced, “When I first met you, you were even smaller than Amy is now. You used to follow me around everywhere. Gabriel would get so jealous he’d cry, telling me I was stealing his sister.”

The images he described were real, but hearing them now felt like listening to a fairy tale. Jessica managed a small, self-deprecating smile. She reached into her purse for the divorce papers, but a sudden wave of dizziness washed over her.

Before she could even process what was happening, the world went black.