Chapter 14 - LAUREL DOES NOT MOVE INTO MY HOUSE
I offered.
Of course.
“You and Poppy take the east residence.”
“No.”
“It’s empty.”
“No.”
“Security.”
“No.”
“Hospital is twelve minutes away.”
“Dad.”
I stopped.
She said:
“I’m not leaving one man who thinks he decides everything to move into another man’s compound.”
That sentence hurt.
Exactly enough.
“What do you want?”
“My apartment.”
She owned a two-bedroom apartment from before marriage.
Small by our family’s standards.
Normal by rational standards.
Tenant had recently moved out.
She chose it.
I offered security.
She chose one licensed female protection specialist for daytime transition and building security after dark.
Not my men.
I paid?
She refused.
Used her own separate account.
I tried to argue.
Then did not.
This was what supporting without owning looked like.
May you like
Standing close enough to catch.
Far enough not to steer.
