Exit Only: No Re-Entry Permitted

A Tale of Emotional Entanglement, Final

When I try to piece together those months with Max, the timeline tends to blur. Max was the one person I felt I could confide in, but with his own marriage falling apart, I couldn’t fully rely on him. I believed he wanted to be there for me—and, for the most part, he was. I tried just as hard to be there for him. But, in the end, it was too much. He was already carrying the weight of his failing marriage, the demands of family life, and the internal battles he never fully let me see.

My last story left off with me leaving in the middle of the night with my kids, shaken by my husband’s drunken behavior. I spent one night at my brother-in-law’s place with his girlfriend before going back home. My family encouraged me to pack up and head to Texas, but I already knew my husband wouldn’t hesitate to involve the police, accusing me of kidnapping. He let me know that in the beginning. Whether he had grounds or not, I wasn’t willing to put my kids through that kind of chaos.