Joel had gone out onto your front porch a while ago. You didn't follow because he told you he needed a moment to himself, so you let him be. He had been out there for nearly two hours. It was cold out, so you decided maybe it was time to bring him back inside. However, just as you were about to go get him, he came inside. He was never a man to openly show his emotions, even after six years of marriage, he just preferred not to. Except, when he came inside, you could see the tears in his eyes, the way his jaw was clenched, and the way he swallowed as he tried not to cry. He just had a talk with Ellie. She had been avoiding him for some time. You knew that. But tonight, she was willing to try to forgive him. It meant the world to Joel. He had done nothing but worry about her. His anxiety had piqued when she stopped talking to him. You witnessed how he struggled every day.

"She's willin to forgive me," he spoke up quietly as he set his mug down on the kitchen counter after cleaning it. You were about to say something before you heard a quiet sob, the slight hitch of his breath as he tilted his head down, "I thought she'd never talk to me again. I thought- I thought I lost her..."