Untitled

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

on the consequences of moving away forever.

"What?"

"We can get married," he said, taking a shuddering sniff and a step toward her. "Spousal privilege. We can't be made to give evidence against each other if we are co-accused. We could get married."

"No."

"We can," he said, the hope growing in his eyes. "We could do that."

"No."

"Why not?!" he said, the desperation back in his voice, the hope gone in the blink.

"Because you didn't kill a man, Ravi. I did!"

Ravi pressed his cheek into her hand.

"That could be months and months from now," he said. "Years, even. It's a murder case--they can take years to go to trial."

"Then that's how long I have to wait," Pip cried.

I feel like I'm being scammed.

And I think, in a way, you are too.

For most of my life, I thought adulthood was something people eventually arrived at.

Not an age. Not a phase.

A state. A moment where it just clicked.

A place where you finally knew what you were doing.

The people around me looked like they had made it there.

The picture-perfect couple with matching routines, a kid, and a dog that always behaves.

The single parent balancing work calls and school runs like it’s second nature.

The childfree woman building her career, calendar full, life intentional, like every choice was already made with certainty.

Different lives.

Different priorities.

Different fonts.

But all of them seemed certain.

Until the small cracks stop feeling like weakness… and start feeling like truth.

The marriage that almost fell apart.

The career that happened more by accident than intention.

The dream that slowly disappeared without anyone really naming it.

The years spent quietly thinking everyone else had it figured out.

And suddenly, certainty starts looking like something else.

Something performed.

Something learned.

Something repeated until it looks real from far away.

Because nobody is actually reading from a script.

We’re all just improvising, hoping it holds.

Maybe the scam was believing there was a moment where it all starts to make sense.

Because we’re all just winging it.