Page 16 of The Yoga Teacher

She wanted to pull over and throw up.

She wanted to drive until the road disappeared beneath her, until she could pretend she was someone else, somewhere else, in a life where Daniel had never touched her, had never held her, had never whispered promises into her skin only tobreak themwith another woman.

But she did none of those things.

Instead, she drove home.

Totheirhome.

The home where she had always felt safe.

She pulled into the driveway and parked, staring up at the porch light.

The house looked the same. The same welcome mat, the same potted plants, the same soft glow spilling from the kitchen window.

A memory of her still lived inside these walls—happy, safe, certain. But that woman was gone. She couldn’t feel her anymore.

Still, Hannah opened the car door.

Still, she stepped inside.

Because her body didn’t know where else to go yet.

And grief needed a place to land.

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Everything around her felt distant, muted, as if she were walking through a dream. A nightmare.

Her bag slipped from her shoulder, landing somewhere near the entryway. Her keys dropped from her fingers, clattering against the hardwood.

She didn’t move to pick them up.

She couldn’t move at all.

Everything was exactly the same.

Butnothingwas the same.

Her gaze lifted, landing on the framed wedding photos.

She had been so meticulous about it, choosing the ones where they looked the mostthem.The mostin love.

In one, Daniel was kissing her temple, her smile bright and real, her arms wrapped around his neck.

In another, they were laughing, mid-spin on the dance floor, her dress caught in the movement, his eyesso full of love.

And then the last one—the one that had always made her chest ache with happiness—Daniel looking at her, justlooking, like she was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen.

Hannah’s vision blurred.

A tremor ran through her fingers as she reached out, pressing them against the glass.

She stared at her younger self. What a naive fool that person had been.

The house felt too still, too silent, the walls pressing in on her as she moved into the kitchen.

Her wedding band glinted under the kitchen light, a small, shining thing against her shaking hand.

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