All Chapters of A Place to Call Home: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

After dinner, my mother, Gloria Grant, sliced up the pumpkin tarts and sent us to the living room to open some presents she'd gotten for us.My older brother, Fred Grant, got a brand-new set of gaming gear. My younger sister, Lily Grant, got the vintage designer bag she'd been eyeing forever. Even my father, Martin Grant, got a bone china tea set.By the time it was my turn, the coffee table was empty.Mom froze for a few seconds, then smacked her forehead. "Ah, my poor memory! I figured you don't need anything, so I didn't want to just buy you something random."Lily hugged her bag, looking a little embarrassed. "Want to borrow my bag for a few days?""Don't be silly." Mom immediately stopped her. "Allie doesn't care for things like that. She's always been the easy one."I looked down and took a bite of pumpkin tart. It was cloyingly sweet.When I was little, money had been tight at home. Fred wanted sneakers, and Lily wanted piano lessons, so I learned early on to say I didn't

The transfer paperwork went through even faster than I'd expected.The company told me to report to Selth City in three days and said a room had already been freed up for me in the employee dorms.I booked my train ticket and didn't tell my family.Ever since I was little, whatever decision I made, they'd always found out at the last minute.When I was filling out my college applications, Dad forgot to ask where I wanted to go. When I was job hunting after graduation, all Mom remembered was to have me help polish Lily's résumé.Later, they always said it was because I had a mind of my own and they never needed to worry about me.After long enough, I believed it too.On the last day of the Labor Day holiday, my parents invited the relatives over for a housewarming.The moment I walked in, I noticed a new decorative piece on the living room wall. It was a family tree carved in relief.My parents' names sat at the bottom. Above them, it split into two branches, Fred on the left a

The train pulled into Selth City just after noon.I dragged my two suitcases out of the station.The coworker the company had sent to pick me up, Daphne Diaz, waved me over. The first thing she said was, "You must be Allie Grant! I made room in the trunk for you. All your luggage will fit."It was such an ordinary thing to say, but it stopped me for a second.Whenever my family used to go on trips, I was always the one in the very back, clutching a bag on my lap. Fred would say Lily got carsick, so she got the front seat. Mom and Dad were older, so the back seat needed to be roomy.However much space was left over at the end, that was how much I got.So there really were people who made room for me before I'd even arrived.By the time I finished onboarding, it was five in the afternoon.Another new coworker, Max Ackman, showed me where the employee apartments were and handed me two keys. "One's for the building, the other's for your room. If you lose them, let us know. Admin ke

My first weekend in Selth City, Fred came to see me alone.He asked ahead of time. Instead of showing up at my office, he arranged to meet me at a coffee shop near my apartment.When he saw me, he glanced around first. "Settling in okay?""It's great. Ten-minute commute, and there's everything I need right downstairs."He nodded, then went quiet again.We'd rarely sat down and talked like this before. At home, he and Lily always had endless things to say to each other, and most of the time, I was just the one listening.After a good while, he took an old photo album out of his bag. "It fell out of that box of yours. Mom found it yesterday while she was going through things."I opened it to the first page. It was full of childhood photos.There was Fred riding a bike for the first time, with me steadying it from behind. Lily's first performance on stage, with me crouched below it, filming her. Dad in the hospital, with me asleep, slumped over his bedside. And the year Mom took a

The week before New Year's, the family group chat went unusually quiet.It wasn't until December 28th that Dad finally posted.Dad: [What's everyone doing this year? Everybody check in, and don't decide for anyone else.]Fred was going back to work an on-call shift. Lily was planning to go skiing with friends. Mom and Dad had decided to stay home.When it was my turn, I wrote: [Spending it in Selth City.]Mom replied with just one message.Mom: [Okay. What do you want to eat? I'll mail it to you.]I was about to say she didn't need to. Halfway through typing, I deleted it.I replied: [Smoked sausage. And your homemade hot sauce.]Ten minutes later, Mom replied excitedly.Mom: [Got it! I'll pack two extra jars!]I couldn't help laughing.So accepting kindness from family didn't have to mean going back to where I used to be. That was true as long as the kindness wasn't a rope meant to tie me down.On New Year's Eve, a few coworkers from the project team who hadn't gone home