One Day in December

by Josie Silver

The truth is that I’ve walked around the edge of being in love with Jack for too many years. It’s made me realize something inevitable, something that’s been a long time coming: he and I would be better off without each other. I need to unwind the roots of Jack O’Mara from my life. He’s too much a part of who I am, and me a part of him. The problem with uprooting things is that sometimes it kills them altogether, but that’s a risk I have to take. For the sake of my marriage; for the sake of all of us.

This scene needed to be such a poignant, pivotal moment of self-realization for Laurie. She’d tried to suppress her feelings for Jack for as long as she’s known him, but here we see her finally admit, to herself at least, how integral he is to her, and that ultimately, he’s a threat to her marriage. There’s also an element of letting go for Jack’s sake as well as her own, too. She knows he feels strongly for her, especially after their dance earlier that evening when Jack talked about how much their only kiss meant to him. I remember writing this paragraph last thing very late one night, and closing my lap top feeling wretched for Laurie.