Chapter 6 - Stripping the Excess
The house in the gated subdivision had always felt like a showroom rather than a sanctuary. Selected by Victoria, decorated by Victoria’s preferred interior designer, it was a museum of pale carpets, fragile porcelain, and unspoken rules.
Within two weeks of Mark’s resignation, the "For Sale" sign was driven into the manicured front lawn.
"Are you sure about this?" Amy asked as they packed cardboard boxes in the living room. Leo sat on a quilt nearby, happily banging a wooden spoon against a plastic bowl. "You worked ten years to earn that partnership."
"I worked ten years trying to earn something that was never going to be given," Mark said, sealing a box with clear tape. "Love in that family wasn't earned through hard work, Amy. It was rented, and the rent went up every time she needed someone to control."
May you like
They were moving two hours north, away from the manicured suburbs to a coastal town where the air smelled of salt pine and rain. Mark had taken a mid-level advisory role at an independent credit union. The salary was half of what he made before, but the working hours ended at five o’clock sharp, and no one wore cufflinks to meetings.
As Amy taped up the last photo frame—a picture of their wedding day where Victoria stood between them, barely smiling—she realized her shoulders hadn't felt this light in three years.
