We climbed down together, and she called to Ben that the attic was boring now.

No more pretending.

I looked at Lily.

“No more pretending.”

“No more pretending.”

She nodded solemnly.

Then she asked, “Can we still keep Christmas boxes up here?”

I laughed for the first time in days.

We had bought that house thinking it would be our forever home.

We had bought that house thinking it would be our forever home.

“Yes. But only boxes.”

We climbed down together, and she called to Ben that the attic was boring now.

We had bought that house thinking it would be our forever home. For a while, Daniel had made it feel like something I had to escape.

Now I stood in the hallway listening to the quiet, the long-awaited quiet of a truly safe home.