Chapter 15 - A New HomeMonths passed.
The divorce became final.
The old house was sold.
One afternoon, I returned alone before closing.
The kitchen looked smaller.
The wall where Ryan had shoved me was just a wall.
The floor where I had fallen was just a floor.
The fear had never lived inside the house.
It had lived inside us.
I took one glow-in-the-dark star from Lily's old bedroom.
Then I left.
Our new townhouse was smaller.
Quieter.
Mine.
I bought yellow flowers for the kitchen.
Lily made a crooked sign:
OUR HOME.
I laughed.
“It's a rental.”
“So?”
She was right.
Dad and I repaired our relationship slowly.
Not through money.
Through honesty.
He learned to ask before helping.
I learned that accepting help did not mean surrendering control.
Diane began therapy.
Mark rebuilt his relationship with his mother.
Andrew accepted responsibility.
Jenna started a new life.
And Lily began therapy too.
One evening, she showed me a worksheet.
Three circles:
Things I Control.
Things I Influence.
Things I Cannot Control.
Under the third circle, she had written:
Daddy's choices.
I stared at it.
Then hugged her.
May you like
She was healing.
And so was I.
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