Hi, @churchboy. Good story; I personally like bettersweeet endings like this one.

I want to point out what I consider three virtues in this narrative: the straightforward point of view, the familiarity of the plot, and the progressive tension.

The narrator speaks to "you", menaing us, so we definitely listen, we put ourselves in the place of the character and live hrough the ongoing events. Plus the plot is realistic; it makes it believable, so we are more prone to consider ourselves in a situation like this. Finally, the way you list the events step by step, makes us trust that the narrator is going to reveal the truth of the story, and we certainly want to know how it ends.

Well penned. Thanks ☻