Chapter 9 - The Garden of Our OwnBy July, the raised garden bed was finished, filled with rich black soil, tomato plants, bell peppers, and rows of bright marigolds that Callie had planted herself.
The red clay beside the workshop was completely gone, replaced by thick, emerald-green grass that hugged the edges of the white wooden fence Aaron and I had built.
We were sitting on the back patio as the summer sun dipped below the horizon, painting the Oklahoma sky in brilliant shades of amber and violet. Callie was out by the garden, watering her tomato plants with a little pink watering can, humming a cheerful tune to herself.
Aaron handed me a glass of iced tea, sitting down in the Adirondack chair beside mine.
"Your dad’s house officially sold at the bankruptcy auction yesterday," Aaron mentioned quietly, watching the sunset.
I took a slow sip of the tea, letting the cold liquid soothe my throat. "Who bought it?"
"A young couple from out of state. First-time buyers. They’re tearing out the old wallpaper and turning the home office into a nursery."
I smiled, a warm, genuine expression that reached all the way to my eyes. "Good for them. That house needed new energy."
"And your mom and Danielle?"
"Mom is staying in a small two-bedroom apartment near downtown Oklahoma City, working part-time at a local bookstore," I said, keeping my voice steady. "Danielle and Chad are still renting that duplex two towns over. Chad actually got a promotion at the plant last month, and the twins are enrolled in their new school."
Aaron turned his head, looking at me with a soft, proud smile. "You sound... at peace with it."
"I am," I admitted, resting my head against the back of the chair. "For a long time, I thought love meant carrying everyone else's baggage so they wouldn't have to feel the weight of their own choices. I thought if I dropped the bags, everything would shatter."
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"And instead?"
"Instead, the only thing that shattered was the illusion," I said, reaching over to take Aaron’s hand, interlocking my fingers with his. "And what's left underneath... is real. It's solid. It's ours."
