Two Different Lights

I did not argue this time.

The suit catalog hit the floor, spilling out the at-home wedding plans I had drawn myself.

Jeff Smith's daughter stepped right onto one of the pages. Her shoeprint landed squarely on the floor plan I had spent hours drawing by hand. He quickly pulled the little girl away.

"Enzo, I'm sorry."

Before I could say anything, Harriet Rogers had already picked up the child and started soothing her. "It's okay. Don't cry."

Tania Smith wrapped her arms around Harriet's neck, sniffling.

Harriet looked up at me. "Enzo, it's just a suit catalog. Don't scare her."

I picked up the page with the dirty shoeprint and stood. "What did I say?"

She froze for a moment, as if realizing she had gone too far, then slowly reached out to touch my shoulder. I instinctively stepped back, and her hand stopped in midair, hovering between us.

"Enzo, you know what Jeff is dealing with right now. His ex-wife keeps using his living situation against him. She says he can't properly take care of Tania. Let him stay here for now. Once the custody evaluation is over, everything will be fine."

I looked at her. "So, I'm going back to the shop."

Harriet frowned. "Just for a year."

She said it softly, but I had heard those words too many times.

When we were living in the basement, she said it would only be a few months.

When we moved from the basement into a one-bedroom apartment, she said we would just have to wait until we had enough for a down payment.

Now that we finally had a three-bedroom house, she was asking me to wait another year.

Every time, it was supposed to be temporary. Every time, she asked me to wait a little longer.

I carried my suit catalog toward the main bedroom. The door was not fully closed. One push was enough to reveal a framed photo of us beside the bed.

Jeff's clothes filled the closet. His electric razor sat on the bathroom counter.

Jeff followed me inside, already trying to explain. "Enzo, don't get the wrong idea. Tania's been having nightmares lately. She can't sleep unless I'm nearby, so I've been staying in here for now."

I turned to look at him. "The kid's room is right next door."

He pressed his lips together and fell silent.

Harriet stepped in front of him, as if she was afraid I would keep asking questions. "It's just a bedroom. Do you really have to make an issue out of this right now?"

I looked at her. Then, I asked quietly, "What about the two-bedroom apartment?"

She looked away. "I sold it."

I slowly closed the suit catalog in my hands. "So, the money we spent renovating it, as well as all the appliances I paid for, you gave everything to them."

Harriet's expression changed. "The apartment was in my name. I had every right to decide what happened to it. Do you really have to keep score like this?"

Jeff immediately reached for Tania. "This is all my fault. I'll take her and go."

Tania burst into tears and ran over, wrapping her arms around Harriet's legs. "Ms. Rogers, you said this was my home."

Harriet's expression changed instantly. She bent down and picked Tania up. "No one's making you leave. I'm right here."

She soothed the crying girl while pulling a tissue from the box and handing it to Jeff.

I stood in the living room and watched them. For some reason, I could not say a word. It was as if this house had already belonged to someone else from the moment we got the keys.

I had brought my suit catalog and other wedding plans there, but at this moment, I looked like someone who had simply arrived too late.

After a long silence, Harriet finally looked at me. "I'll drive you back to the shop."

I hugged the suit catalog against my chest and walked past her. "No need."

She followed me to the elevator and lowered her voice. "Enzo, just take a few days to cool off. Don't let one house destroy five years of our relationship."

The elevator doors slowly began to close.

I looked up at her. "Harriet, it's not the house I care about. It's the fact that every time you promised to give me a home, I was never the one you gave it to."