Skylar confronts his actions

The haze lifted slowly, like smoke clearing from a forgotten fire. He saw it now, the stark, ugly truth of the paths he'd walked, the lines he'd crossed without a second thought in the blinding heat of his desire. The thrill was gone, replaced by a cold, heavy stone in his gut, a weight that felt like it would never lift. The reflection staring back wasn't the carefree man who chased a fantasy, but a stranger haunted by his own making.

Every glance at the familiar walls of his home, at the quiet presence of the woman he'd vowed his life to, twisted the knife deeper. The comfortable rhythm of thirty-six years lay shattered at his feet, shards glinting with the harsh light of consequence. He had chased a mirage, and in doing so, had burned down the only solid ground he knew, leaving behind only ash and the suffocating silence of regret. The cost of his summer dream was everything.