Chapter 16 - The Third-Floor Reality
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The legal transaction was officially completed the next morning. My parents moved into their new two-bedroom apartment ten minutes across town.
Faced with the harsh reality of automated monthly rent payments, my father was forced to get a part-time job as a consultant for a local shipping firm.
Working twenty hours a week did wonders for his ego.
My mother joined a neighborhood gardening club and began sending me weekly texts with photos of her plants.
She still maintained that I had overreacted to the situation, but she never again made a comment about my wife.
Tessa's business collapsed completely four months later.
She blamed "market instability" and "negative energy from consumers," refusing to admit that selling overpriced plastic trinkets was not a sustainable career.
Eventually, she was forced to take a job at a major retail furniture store down the highway.
The universe has a dark sense of humor: her main responsibility was selling living room furniture and reclining chairs to everyday shoppers.
Two months after the sale of the house, Clare gave birth to our healthy baby daughter, Lily.
My parents came to the hospital to meet their granddaughter. They brought flowers, held the baby gently, and acted polite.
May you like
Tessa sent a brief text message claiming she was too busy with work inventory to visit.
I didn't mind at all.
