Then: You can stay until the lease expires.
I texted back: I’ll be there. Bring a list.
Don’t make this hard.
You made it hard, Jace. Bring boxes.
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When he showed up with a friend, I had a printed inventory.
Jace stared at it. “Are you kidding me?”
Jace didn’t like that I wasn’t crying.
“Nope. Start with the TV.”
His friend tried to joke, “Damn, Briar, intense.”
“I’m accurate,” I said.
Jace didn’t like that I wasn’t crying.
He liked it even less when I said, loud enough for the hallway, “You’re not taking the laptop. I bought that before you moved in.”
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I worked nights at a clinic, studied whenever I could, and finished my course without Jace’s money.
A neighbor peeked out. Jace flushed. Good.
I worked nights at a clinic, studied whenever I could, and finished my course without Jace’s money. Sometimes Murray’s driver took me from work to class when timing got tight. Murray never made it weird. He just made space.
***
Two months later, I passed my final assessment.
I walked out shaking, not from fear, but from relief.
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That night, I went back to my apartment for the last of my things.
I called my friend first. Then Murray.
“I passed,” I said, voice cracking.
He went quiet for a beat. “Of course you did.”
That night, I went back to my apartment for the last of my things.
In the lobby, I ran into Jace.
“But I never asked for any of it. You offered.”
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He looked me over like he expected me to still be broken.
“So… you’re doing okay.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I am.”
He frowned. “Hmm. I guess you never really needed me. Maybe you were just using me.”
He meant it like a jab.
“I needed support,” I said. “You offered it. Then you pulled it. But I never asked for any of it. You offered.”
It didn’t feel like punishment anymore.
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He opened his mouth.
I lifted my hand. “Don’t.”
He stopped.
I walked past him and stepped into the cold.
It didn’t feel like punishment anymore.
I’d taken a hold of my own life, and I was proud of myself.
I could feel the weather turning a bit. It was still cold outside, but it was getting warmer.
And for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t waiting for someone else to decide my life.
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