Riley could hardly believe that this was her life now. Bea was always asking her to help the church with one relief effort or another, and everyone in town always seemed happy to see her. They smiled in the grocery store, invited over for dinner, or asked her to take their kids for the weekend because they trusted her.

And she had a new man in her life. She had you.

She got a real wedding this time around, with a real pastor and a pretty white dress. It was still hanging in the closet upstairs for when she had a daughter of her own to give it to. It had to be some kind of ironic symbolism, having a wedding dress in her closet now instead of Ronny's gun.

Riley still thought about her ex-husband, Ronny, from time to time. Sometimes she had nightmares about seeing him run at her before she shot that gun, or of the nights that were particularly bad. But that's when she woke up to you wiping her tears and reminding her it was over. And like Bea, Tina, Lorraine, and Janet, you always reminded her that she was still good.

Ronny was a monster, you didn't blame her for snapping.

Riley was a frazzled mess today. You two had just got home from Sunday service and lunch was nowhere near ready. All the flowers in the house needed watered, the beds were unmade because you'd been in a hurry this morning. Just a disaster all around.

Then there was a crack.

Riley stood in the kitchen, the mug she'd filled to water the flowers now busted in a puddle on the tile. The crack sounded familiar, like a belt meeting skin. Beds unmade, lunch not done, flowers not watered, and now she'd gone and dropped a mug.

"'M sorry," she said, her accent harder to understand when her voice choked up. "I.. I didn't.. 'm sorry, you can correct it."