After we hung up, I stood there for a long moment, staring at nothing.
Susan was ambitious, the kind of woman who walked into a room and immediately decided what needed to change.
After she moved into the house, she changed everything. The curtains. The dishes. Even the throw pillows my mother had picked out.
Looking back, changing the furniture wasn’t what I should have been worried about.
I stood there for a long moment, staring at nothing.
I never said a word about Susan’s changes to the house.
Maybe things would’ve been different if I’d spoken up sooner, but my father seemed lighter again, and that was worth more to me than matching coffee mugs.
Besides, I was in college. It wasn’t really my home anymore, and I didn’t want to impose.
« He deserves to be happy, » I had told my best friend once. « I can live with new pillows. »
I zipped the duffel bag and slung it over my shoulder.
