Chapter 3

The woman on the phone said she was calling about the coastal dream home.

I assumed it was a scam.

Then she read the first six numbers printed on the raffle ticket in my hand.

They matched.

“To continue the verification, we need the original ticket and your identification,” she said. “Please don’t send money or banking information. Can you come to the television station today?”

I returned to Natalie’s office.

Natalie Brooks, the lawyer who had just finalized my divorce, checked the station’s official number before agreeing to come with me.

“If they ask you for money, we leave,” she said.

At the television station, a contest manager examined my ticket, driver’s license and purchase record.

Then she smiled.

“Emma Carter, you are the sole winner of this year’s Christmas Dream Home.”

I stared at her.

“What does that mean?”

“You’ve won a fully furnished three-bedroom house overlooking the bay. There is no mortgage. The prize also includes an SUV and one hundred thousand dollars to cover taxes, insurance and initial maintenance.”

Three hours earlier, I had signed away the only house I had ever owned.

Now a stranger was telling me I owned another one.

The manager turned a screen toward me.

The house had white walls, wide windows facing the ocean and a wooden fireplace. A decorated Christmas tree stood in the living room.

The bedroom contained nothing that belonged to Jason.

I looked at Natalie.

“Can anyone take it away from me?”

“You mean Jason?”

I nodded.

“Your divorce became final before the prize was awarded,” she said. “Jason signed away any claim to property you received afterward. He cannot take this house from you.”

Only then did I let myself breathe.

The station wanted to announce the winner during its live program that evening.

“I’ll do it,” I said. “But you can’t contact Jason before the broadcast. Don’t release Sarah’s address, either.”

The manager agreed.

While I waited backstage, I opened my phone.

Vanessa was livestreaming a party from my former home.

She called it our first Christmas in our new house.

Jason’s parents were there, along with people from the car dealership, Vanessa’s friends and several neighbors. She carried her phone through the kitchen, showing everyone the counters I had cleaned and the furniture I had bought.

Then she entered my old reading room.

“This will be the nursery,” she told her viewers.

Words appeared beneath the video.

Sometimes a real family has to remove the wrong person first.

Vanessa turned the camera toward Jason.

“I wish our house had an ocean view.”

Jason laughed. “When I get my promotion, we’ll buy something better.”

I closed the video.

Natalie sat beside me, reading something on her phone.

“What is it?” I asked.

“There appears to be another loan attached to the house.”

“A second mortgage?”

“It looks that way. I don’t have the full amount yet.”

Jason had refused to show us his loan records. Now the house and every debt attached to it belonged to him.

“Should I warn him?” I asked.

Natalie looked at me. “That’s your decision.”

Yesterday, I would have called him. I would have tried to prevent another bad choice, even after he had made it my problem.

But Jason had given me two suitcases and told me I was no longer part of his family.

“No,” I said. “He chose the house.”

The live program began.

From behind the curtain, I watched the host show the same white house, ocean windows and furnished rooms I had seen that afternoon.

Then she opened an envelope.

“This year’s Christmas Dream Home winner is Emma Carter, a community librarian who has just ended a ten-year marriage.”

I walked onto the stage.

Behind the cameras, a producer was still watching Vanessa’s public livestream.

At my former home, the party had gone silent.

Jason stood up so quickly that he struck the coffee table.

Vanessa’s wineglass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor.

The host turned to me.

“What does it feel like to win a home that belongs entirely to you?”

I looked into the camera.

“It feels like no one can ever make me pack two suitcases and leave again.”