“You went without me?”
“We knew you’d stress over all the details,” Colin replied. “We only put down a refundable deposit.”
“When do you want me to leave?”
He looked at Jessica.
“January first.”
It was the middle of November.
Eventually, they confessed the real reason: Lucas wanted my ground-floor bedroom. He was beginning middle school and, according to them, needed his privacy.
Jessica gently patted my hand.
“You’ll be so much better off around people your own age.”
I looked at my son.
“It’s for the best, Mom,” he said.
Something inside my chest became completely still.
Then I smiled.
“I agree.”
The relief that crossed their faces was immediate.
That same night, I closed my bedroom door and called a number I already knew by heart.
“Richard,” I said when he answered. “I’m ready.”
On the night of November 30, I left a packed suitcase beside the door.
At 8:27 the next morning, the doorbell rang.
