Chapter 14 - The Housewarming
Six months after the Vegas photograph, I hosted a party.
Not a revenge party.
Not a divorce party.
A housewarming.
Which seemed ridiculous because I'd lived there for years.
But the house felt new.
I replaced Trevor's oversized entertainment room with a design studio and library.
I converted his private gym into a guest suite.
I removed the enormous photograph of us from the staircase.
Not because I hated the woman in it.
I felt compassion for her.
She hadn't known.
My colleagues came.
Friends came.
Evelyn came carrying champagne.
Marcus brought a ridiculous houseplant taller than he was.
Dad came alone.
Later, Mom arrived.
She stood awkwardly near the entrance.
"I'm not asking you to forgive me," she said.
Good start.
"I started therapy."
That surprised me.
"I've been thinking about why I always protected Hailey."
I listened.
Mom had confused love with rescue.
And because I rarely demanded rescue, she assumed I needed less love.
"I was wrong."
"Yes."
She nodded.
No argument.
Progress.
Then Hailey arrived.
She wore a simple blue dress.
No dramatic entrance.
No expectation.
She handed me a small box.
Inside was a brass key.
"What's this?"
"The key you gave me when I was nineteen."
To my old apartment.
"I kept it," she said. "Even after you moved."
"Why?"
"Because I liked knowing there was always somewhere I could go."
She looked toward the mansion.
"I realized I spent my whole life taking doors you opened for me and acting like I deserved the house behind them."
I closed the box.
"Keep building your own."
She nodded.
May you like
"I am."
For the first time, I believed her.
