Chapter 14 - THE LAST HOUSE RULE
Three months later, Gary returned to the house once.
Not to move back.
To collect remaining property under an agreed schedule while Melissa’s sister was present.
Brooke came downstairs when she heard him in the kitchen.
The broken chair had been replaced.
The table remained.
So did a faint green stain between two floorboards where Ethan’s paint had dried.
Gary noticed Brooke looking at it.
“I’m sorry.”
Brooke folded her arms.
“For what?”
He looked frustrated.
“For that day.”
“That’s easy.”
His expression tightened.
“What do you want from me?”
Brooke almost smiled.
There it was.
Even his apology expected instructions.
“A time machine?”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Gary sat down.
“I raised you for six years.”
“You helped raise me.”
“I treated you like my daughter.”
“Sometimes.”
That hurt him.
Brooke let it.
Not because she wanted revenge.
Because accuracy mattered.
Gary looked toward the green stain.
“I hated hearing his name.”
“Lucas?”
“He walked away and then got to come back acting repaired.”
“He didn’t walk away the way you told us.”
Gary's jaw tightened.
“He made your mother’s life hell.”
“And then he did the work the court asked him to do.”
“You think that makes him a hero?”
“No.”
Brooke surprised herself with how easily the answer came.
“I don’t need heroes anymore.”
Gary looked at her.
“I need adults who can be wrong without making children pay for it.”
For once, he had no response.
Before leaving, Gary stopped at the front door.
“I hope Ethan understands someday that I loved him.”
Brooke thought about the belt cracking against the table.
The game controller.
The drawings.
The years of tension.
“You should hope he gets to decide what your love felt like.”
Gary left.
Melissa locked the door behind him.
Then she gave Brooke the key.
Not ceremonially.
Practically.
“We’re changing the locks next week anyway.”
Brooke almost laughed.
May you like
It was the least dramatic gesture of the entire year.
Maybe that was why it felt real.
