6. The New House
Three months later.
The harsh winter had finally broken, giving way to the soft, vibrant greens of early spring.
I was standing in the expansive backyard of our new home, a beautiful, sprawling mid-century modern house in a quiet, leafy suburb. I leaned against the wooden railing of the back deck, holding a mug of hot coffee, enjoying the warm morning sun on my face.
Out in the yard, Mark and Lily were busy. Mark was holding a power drill, expertly securing a wooden plank to the sturdy branches of an old oak tree. They were building a treehouse.
Lily was wearing a pair of tiny, plastic safety goggles, acting as his “foreman.” But more importantly, tucked securely under her arm, was a brand new, incredibly gorgeous, limited-edition American Girl doll. It was a gift Mark had given her on the day we moved in, complete with a tiny, matching toolbelt he had custom-ordered for it.
The sounds of their laughter drifted across the grass, light and entirely unburdened.
I had heard the updates through the grapevine, courtesy of a particularly gossipy aunt who had witnessed the fallout of the Vance family implosion.
True to my word, I hadn’t yielded. On January 25th, the county sheriff arrived at the Oakwood Drive property to oversee the formal eviction. Tyler, unable to secure a loan or a new lease due to his atrocious credit and the eviction on his record, had been forced to move his family into a tiny, cramped, run-down apartment complex on the industrial outskirts of the city.
