Chapter 5 - Paying for Distance
Claire’s protective choice was practical and expensive. She moved her salary into a new account, left enough for bills, and canceled the cards Wyatt had given Harper. Then, she paid for seven nights at a cheap hotel by campus. “You can stay there while your mother arranges something permanent,” Claire said. Harper stared at the printed reservation, alarmed, then asked again whether Claire had called Renee. Wyatt called the move financial abuse. Claire answered that paying for distance was safer than sharing a kitchen after what she had done. That admission stopped him. Harper refused the hotel, claiming she could not commute from there, though a train stopped outside. Wyatt offered to reimburse Claire but would not say where his money had gone. By evening, Claire had spent nine hundred dollars, lost Wyatt’s trust, and made herself the villain to his sister. She reset the island before bed. For the first time, the ritual felt less like order than a border she was drawing around herself.
