Page 46 of Unravel Me

It feels foreign; yet deeply, undeniably right. Saying goodbye to this house will be a weight lifted off my shoulders. Taking agency isn’t merely a step forward; it’s a reclamation.

As I open my eyes, the sun begins to peak from behind the clouds.

I could hear my phone ringing while I was in the shower, instantly irritating me. If it wasn’t Rhett, Penny, or my new listing agent, there was a short list of other people who could be calling me, none of which I wanted to talk to. Nonetheless, I hopped out, threw on my silk robe and snatched my phone from my dresser. Five missed calls from my mother. I had only been in the shower for ten minutes. Sitting pensively on the bed, squeezing my dripping hair with a towel, I dial her number.

“Is your phone broken?” Her voice greets me, angry and shrill.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Do you know how to pick up a phone? If you’re going to live so far from your family, we at least need to know you’re alive.” I put the phone on speaker, wrap the towel around my head, and inhale three deep breaths before responding.

“I’m alive and well.”

Since the breakup with Jackson, my mother and father have barely checked in at all. They have been quiet on the matter, making me wonder if they are truly okay with it. Perhaps the needle is finally shifting, and they are learning to accept their only daughter doesn’t align with their values perfectly; but that she is still a worthy member of the family. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

“I’m calling to talk about your house.” She sounds unreasonably annoyed, like my house is somehow a burden to her. Her and my father were there when we bought it. Jackson, of course, buttered them up by inviting them to visit the day we closed, surprising them with our new purchase. It only solidified their love of him.

“What? Why?” I sat up straight, my stomach twisting in knots.

“We are redecorating the first floor of our house, and I know how long it takes for furniture, so I thought I’d ship our old furniture to you. You can use what you want out of it.”

I crease my brows so much it hurts my head because Evelyn Elson didn’t just give things away. Not without strings attached.

“That’s very generous Mom, but not necessary.”

“Audrey, you can’t live in an empty house. You’ll be moving in when the renovations are done, which I believed to be any week now.”

Exhaling a sharp breath, and willing myself not to feel so small, not to revert to old Audrey the people pleaser, I steady myself against my headboard.

“I’ve been thinking about it all, and realistically the house is too big for me. It would be lonely to live there by myself, and it’s not even my taste.” It’s not a farmhouse. “So, I've been considering selling it.”

Actually, the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed, and a ‘For Sale’ sign will be in the yard by the end of next week.

“You can’t be serious? After all the money Jack—” She paused, correcting herself. “All the work you put into it, making it your own. He gifted you this house and you’re going to react ungratefully. This home is in the best zip code. You never know what your future holds, Audrey. Don’t be rash and ignorant about this.”

Her words cut but I can only focus on one aspect. I never told her Jackson gifted me the house.

“How do you know about the deed transfer?”

I could feel the tension through the phone, her pause, before she casually spurts out, “Jackson told your father, obviously. It’s a big deal.”

Of course.

“Living in that house says a lot about you as well. It has a certain appeal; it will attract the right person into your life.”

“What if I meet someone who doesn’t want to live there?”

That certainly shouldn’t have slipped out of my mouth.

“What kind of man wouldn’t want to live there?” She laughed a bit too manically into the phone, like the idea was simply implausible. “You really don’t know what’s best for you, do you?”

I ignore her condescending remarks as my thoughts flash to Rhett, and I pinch my lips together, determined to never let a word of him slip to her.

Because he was mine, and I was his. And in the little world we had together, I was safe. I didn’t have to be an Elson, or an ex-almost-Tippins.

I could simply be Audrey.

Whatever it was, I needed to keep it safe.