And for the first weeks, she did exactly that. She helped plan the arrangements, accepted the embraces of neighbors and extended family, and stood quietly while her adult children spoke around her as though they had already decided what her next chapter would look like.
What none of them knew was that three months before Julián’s passing, Carmen had done something entirely for herself.
She had purchased a ticket for a year-long cruise. The route covered the Mediterranean, parts of Asia, and Latin America. She had not told a single soul.
She had not bought it out of impulse or grief. She had bought it because, somewhere deep in the quiet hours of her life, she had recognized that her own needs had been disappearing year by year — and she had made a decision before it was too late.
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