Chapter 3

On Monday morning, a moving truck pulled up outside my house.

Kelly stood in the driveway with four suitcases at her feet. Liam held the dog’s leash, and Sophie hugged a pillow. Two movers were already unloading a mattress.

They were a day early.

I stepped outside. “Why are you here today?”

Kelly tucked her hair behind one ear and answered quickly.

“The buyer wanted the house empty before closing. My landlord offered to refund the rest of the month if we handed over the keys yesterday. Tom said coming early was fine.”

“He didn’t tell me.”

“I thought he would.”

She walked past me with the children. The dog dragged Liam up the stairs, with Sophie close behind.

I followed them inside.

“Stay out of my office.”

I heard a key turn upstairs.

By the time I reached the landing, Kelly was unlocking my office door. She was using the spare key that had always been kept in a kitchen drawer.

“Where did you get that?”

“Tom gave it to me.”

As soon as the door opened, the children ran inside.

Sophie dropped her pillow on my desk chair. Liam went to the window and asked if his bed could go against that wall. The dog knocked into a filing shelf, sending the top row of folders sliding forward.

I caught them and pushed them back into place.

“Everyone out.”

Kelly stood in the middle of the room and pulled a tape measure from her bag.

“Relax. We’re only checking the layout. Once the bookcase is gone, both beds should fit.”

She extended the metal tape across the front of my desk.

“Sophie likes blue. This gray makes it look too much like an office. We can repaint this weekend.”

“It looks like an office because it is one.”

The doorbell rang downstairs.

The head mover was standing on the porch with a clipboard.

“Which room upstairs are the two children’s beds going into?”

“Don’t move them yet,” I said.

Kelly squeezed past me.

“First room on the right. The vanity goes in there too.”

“Nothing goes into that room.”

The mover looked between us. “I need a definite location. We can’t leave the truck parked here all day.”

My neighbor across the street was checking her mail. She looked toward our house twice. The other mover stood beside the bed frame, waiting for instructions.

Kelly pulled out her phone and called Tom.

“You need to come home. Erin won’t let them bring anything inside.”

Less than twenty minutes later, Tom pulled into the driveway.

He apologized to the movers before drawing me aside.

“Why didn’t you let them unload?”

“Why didn’t you tell me they were coming today?”

“The schedule changed at the last minute. I was in a meeting and forgot to text you.”

“You didn’t forget to give Kelly the key to my office.”

Tom glanced toward the front door. Kelly and both children were watching us.

“We talked about this last night. Let them settle in, and we’ll work out the rest later.”

“I was clear last night. No one touches my office.”

The mover came over and warned us that they charged for waiting time.

Tom raised his voice so everyone near the house could hear him.

“Erin, are you seriously going to make two children sleep in a car tonight?”

My neighbor stopped beside her mailbox.

Kelly lowered her head and wrapped an arm around Sophie. Tom watched me, waiting for me to give in with everyone looking on.

I turned to the mover.

“Put one bed in the guest room. The other bed and the vanity can go in the garage. Leave the boxes in the living room. Nothing goes into my office.”

“No problem.” He immediately changed the locations on his list.

Tom opened his mouth to object.

“They can use the guest room and the living room for now.” I took the spare key from Kelly’s hand. “The office was never part of the arrangement.”

I locked the door and slipped the key into my pocket.

For the next hour, furniture moved steadily through the front door. Boxes filled half the living room, while the second bed frame was stacked against the garage wall. Each time something was carried into the garage, Kelly’s expression hardened.

After the movers left, I went upstairs.

As I reached the office door, I heard Kelly reassuring the children below.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Uncle Tom promised that room would be ours eventually.”