(Brad)
I woke up early on Monday.
Not because I had somewhere to be. Just because I had been sleeping badly for weeks and my body had stopped pretending otherwise. I lay there for a while staring at the ceiling and then got up and made coffee and stood at the kitchen window and looked out at the yard.
The house was quiet.
It was always quiet now.
I had bought this house thinking it would feel like a fresh start. A new space. Somewhere to regroup while I figured out what came next. Instead it had just felt like a place I was staying in, temporary and hollow, the walls belonging to someone else's story even though my name was on the deed.
I drank my coffee and thought about what Gerald had said on the call last week.
The payment to Lena was being finalized. The court order had set the
