“Second—I wasn’t fair to Marissa. I let one bad sentence she said five years ago become a wall. She was hurting too. She lost our dad to that morning just like I did. If she’s angry at you, she’s really angry at me. I’m sorry I left you to deal with that.
“I love you, Claire Hale Mercer. Not the way you love someone in a movie. The way you love the person who proves your life was worth saving.”
The screen went black.
I watched it three times.
Then I made my choice.
It was not an easy one. I want to be honest about that. For three nights, I sat at my kitchen table with a legal pad and did the math.
If I kept the house, I would never pay rent again. I could sell it and have $185,000—more money than I’d ever seen in my life. I could fight Marissa, and Arthur said I’d probably win.
