“I won’t be signing it.”
A long silence settled over the room.
Even the grandfather clock near the staircase suddenly sounded louder.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Lorraine leaned forward.
“I don’t think you understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
She folded her hands.
“Then perhaps you’d like to explain.”
“I’d rather move back into my own home.”
For the first time that morning, Wade looked directly at me.
Confusion spread across his face.
“Your own home?”
“Yes.”
“What home?”
I stood slowly, lifted my handbag from the chair beside me, and slipped my coat over my shoulders.
“The condominium I bought several years before we met.”
Lorraine let out a soft laugh.
“So…”
She tilted her head.
“Some little starter apartment?”
I looked at her calmly.
“You don’t need to concern yourself with it.”
I turned toward the door.
“Maren.”
Wade stood.
“Wait.”
But I was already walking away.
I climbed the staircase without looking back.
Behind me, I heard Lorraine mutter quietly,
“Honestly.”
As though I were the unreasonable one.
The guest suite Wade and I had been sharing suddenly felt unfamiliar.
It wasn’t our bedroom.
It had never been our bedroom.
It had always belonged to Lorraine.
Even the closets felt temporary.
As I pulled my suitcase from beneath the bed, Wade walked in and shut the door behind him.
His expression wasn’t worried.
It was irritated.
“Are you seriously packing?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t leave because of one conversation.”
I opened the closet.
“I can.”
He sighed dramatically.
“Mom was trying to teach responsibility.”
I folded one of my dresses carefully before placing it into the suitcase.
“No.”
I said quietly.
“She was teaching control.”
His jaw tightened.
“You’re making this into something it isn’t.”
I zipped another packing cube.
“Really?”
He crossed his arms.
“Absolutely.”
I stopped folding clothes and looked directly at him.
“Would you pay rent if we lived in a house my family owned?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
His silence answered the question more honestly than words ever could.
“No,” I said softly.
“You wouldn’t.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“That’s different.”
“How?”
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