AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Balancing my phone between my ear and shoulder, I set down the flat of tonic water on top of the others in the storeroom. I’d been trying to avoid this topic for months, but I’d been expecting word from the building inspector about whether the completed repairs from the fire had passed code. Phoning me from an unidentified number, my sneaky sister had caught me off guard.
“He’s not over you.”
“How could you possibly know that?” I asked.
“Because he told me.” She let out a breath. “It’s been awkward. Paul is the real estate agent on the house we just closed on.”
“The one near the Skellins?” I asked. I knew she’d had her eye on a gorgeous property that had a view of Lake Washington and a big backyard that Daniel loved. The only problem was the exorbitant price tag.
“Yes,” she said.
“Did you get them to go down on the asking price?”
“No, but Daniel says we can handle it.”
“That’s wonderful, Rach. Congrats.”
“I wish I could be saying congrats to you on maybe moving in with Paul. His house is just a street over from ours. We could easily see each other all the time.”
“I’m sorry.” If Paul had wanted that, which he’d never mentioned, I wouldn’t have agreed. “It wasn’t that serious for me.” Not an outright lie, but not the entire truth either.
“Terrible timing.” Her tone thickened with chastisement. “Breaking it off right after he got mugged.”
The mugging was the reason I broke it off, the reason I could never date. Teresa was wrong. Martin remained obsessed with me, and I now knew his father had me in his sights as well because of Ella.
“How is Claire?” I asked to redirect Rachel. My sister loved her daughter as much as I loved mine, though she didn’t know my Ella existed.
“She’s wonderful, as usual.” I could hear the love in her voice. “She’s so advanced for her age. And now that we’re moving into this house, she’s going to be able to go to the best schools.”
“That’s great.” I exhaled in relief that my attempt at redirection worked.
“Daniel’s going to build her a tree house in the backyard.”
“Sounds like my brother-in-law.” I thought Daniel was a wonderful father. He doted on Claire, teaching her everything he knew about wildlife, passing on his love for birds.
“I’d better let you go.” I stared at the stacks of boxes that had just been delivered from my supplier.
“Okay, but come by and see us at the new place soon. Don’t be a stranger.”
I ended the call after promising to visit. But it was a promise I couldn’t really keep. It wasn’t just my sister I had to keep my distance from. It was everyone.
Martin was never going away.
Addy
Seven years later
Day after day, month after month, year after year, I closed myself off more and became a stranger inside my own life. Who would want to know me? I’d tried to be more, but without room to grow, I became diminished, a lesser version of myself.
Time passed slowly when there was nothing to look forward to. Gym, work, repeat. Some online business classes for variety.
Once my sister moved, I rarely visited her since she lived so close to the Skellins. I took Winston’s threats as seriously as his son’s, maybe even more so.
The years blended. My life was uneventful. Even my letters to Ella were boring.
Seven years had passed since I saw her and broke it off with Paul. Seven years that felt like forever when I was living them, yet they came and went in the blink of an eye. I marked time in my letters to my daughter. The stack of my journals grew nearly as fast as my ten-year-old niece, Claire, did.
Finishing my current entry, I closed the notebook and placed it on top of the stack in the closet. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror on the back of the door and paused for some reason, noting the outward changes that I mostly tried to ignore.
