Chapter 4 - The Aftershocks
The next morning, the storm had passed, leaving behind a pristine, sparkling world. But my phone was a war zone. I woke up to seventy-two missed calls and over a hundred text messages from my mother, father, and Jenny.
“You’re ruining this family!” “Your father’s truck is going to be repossessed!” “How can you be so selfish over a text message?”
I sat at the small wooden table in the inn's dining room, drinking coffee Luke had freshly brewed for me. I felt a momentary pang of guilt—the old conditioning trying to drag me back into the role of the dutiful, mistreated savior.
"Don't look at them," Luke said gently, setting down a plate of pancakes. He had spent his morning looking at my car and told me it just needed a new alternator, which he could fix by the afternoon. "They aren't mourning the loss of you, Clara. They're mourning the loss of your wallet. You need to remind yourself of that."
"It's hard," I admitted, looking at Lily, who was happily banging a plastic spoon on the high chair Luke had unearthed from the storage room. "I’ve spent my whole life trying to buy their love."
"Then start spending your energy on people who give it for free," he replied, his eyes holding mine a beat longer than necessary.
Before I left the inn that afternoon, I blocked my parents and Jenny on every platform. I changed my bank account numbers and routing codes. I sent a final email to my father’s truck loan company, officially removing myself as a guarantor, and notified Jenny’s daycare that I would no longer be authorized to pay her balances.
May you like
When I tried to pay Luke for the car repair, he pushed my hand away. "Just promise you'll come back visit when the roads are clear," he said with a warm smile. "Consider it a late Christmas gift."
As I drove back to my own city, the silence in the car was no longer heavy. It was full of possibility.
