Jess had been looking forward to a peaceful evening, finally moving past her painful divorce with Daniel. After a long week of work and memories she’d rather forget, the promise of dinner with Mark felt like the calm she’d been craving. She made herself chamomile tea and settled in her favorite chair, ready to lose herself in a book.
But just as she began to relax, the doorbell rang. Opening the door, Jess found Eleanor, her ex-mother-in-law, holding a freshly baked apple pie. Eleanor, suffering from dementia, smiled and asked where Daniel was, forgetting they had been divorced for almost a year. Jess felt a pang of guilt as she led her inside, not wanting to remind Eleanor of the painful truth.
As they sat down, Eleanor talked about her pie recipe, oblivious to the tension in the air. Jess’s patience wore thin, and she excused herself to call Daniel, only to be met with his usual indifference. When she returned to Eleanor, things took a sudden turn. Eleanor winced in pain, clutching her head. Jess’s evening was about to take a shocking turn.
