“Rachel, could you repeat what you’re asking?”
She blinked.
“I want you to consider letting us have the house.”
“Because you’re expecting a child?”
“Yes.”
“And Tyler thinks this is reasonable?”
“Absolutely.”
I nodded slowly.
Then said, “I need some time to think.”
She looked pleased.
“Of course.”
“Please leave for now.”
She hesitated.
“I think we should settle this today.”
“We can speak later.”
After a moment, she agreed.
As she walked away, she looked back at the house with an expression I didn’t like.
As though she were already imagining where her furniture would go.
I closed the door.
And leaned against it.
The document my father insisted I keep
For several minutes, I stood in the hallway.
Family photographs lined the wall.
Tyler and me on our wedding day.
Our son at graduation.
Our daughter smiling beside her first bicycle.
A photograph from a vacation in Maine.
The house was filled with eighteen years of memories.
