Once Rebecca finally disappeared down the stairs and the hallway fell silent, Mary felt the tension start to drain out of her.
She sank down little by little, until she was curled up over her own knees, and buried her face in her hands.
She'd done it.
She'd really done it.
And there was no going back now.
Those thoughts kept looping through her head, hammering at her without pause.
Until just a few minutes ago, no matter how complicated the situation, there had still been some path forward.
She could have let Rebecca leave without saying a word, pretended none of this had ever happened, and later tried to approach Mark honestly, start from zero, build something real, patiently.
Difficult, sure, but possible.
Now, though, all those doors had slammed shut.
With what she'd just done, with the lie she'd just planted, there was no clean future left with Mark.
Sooner or later, the truth would come out.
