I remembered the small condo in Kenosha, Wisconsin that had belonged to our mother, the one I spent two years renovating after college while pouring every dollar I earned from freelance work into it.
When I was twenty nine, I gave it to her as a gift because she said she wanted independence but still wanted to remain close to family, and she cried when I handed her the keys as if it meant everything to her.
Standing in front of her now, I held onto that memory like proof that something had once been real between us.
I asked her quietly, “Do you really want me gone, and do you truly believe I am standing in the way of your happiness?”
Before she could answer, Brandon stepped slightly forward and positioned himself within her reflection in the mirror as if inserting himself into every part of her life.
“She deserves peace,” he said smoothly, “and sometimes family creates problems without meaning to.”
He brought up something from years ago and twisted it into an example of how I made things harder for her, and Aubrey nodded as if everything he said was completely true.
That was the moment I understood something I had been avoiding for a long time.