Then I closed the spreadsheet, opened my personal email, and confirmed the flight I had been staring at for three weeks.
One way. Denver to Portland. Window seat. Leaving at 6:40 p.m.
I hadn’t sold a house. I had sold my condo. Technically, closing had happened that morning. I had signed the last page with a blue pen while the title agent offered me a bowl of peppermint candies and told me I looked “peaceful for someone making such a big change.”
I hadn’t told my mother because telling her things made them available for use.
Fifteen minutes later, my phone rang.
Jake.
I watched his name flash on the screen until the last possible second. Then I answered.
“You can’t just—what is this?” he said. He was already angry, already breathless, like he had run up stairs in a building I hadn’t invited him into. “Mom said you sold your place? What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving,” I said.
Silence.
Not soft silence. Not shocked silence.
Calculating silence.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“So what?” His voice got sharper. “You’re just going to disappear while we deal with this?”
We.
That word had been used on me like a leash since childhood.
Part 2
We need to be patient with Jake.
We need to not upset your mother.
We all make sacrifices.
I looked around my cubicle at the cheap black stapler, the chipped mug full of pens, the little ceramic fox my coworker had given me last Christmas because “you’re quiet but tricky.” I picked it up and put it in my purse.
“I’ve already dealt with it,” I said.
“You always do this,” Jake snapped.
That almost made me laugh.
“I always do what?”
“You act like you’re above us.”
I leaned back in my chair. “I’m not above it, Jake. I’m just not in it anymore.”
He started to say something, but then Mom’s voice came through in the background, faint and frantic.
“Ask her about the papers.”
I sat up.
“What papers?” I asked.
Jake went quiet.
The office around me changed shape. The printer stopped. The phones stopped. Even the burnt burrito smell seemed to vanish under the sudden cold rush moving through my chest.
The most important part is just ahead — click NEXT »»
