PART 7
Three days later, the moving truck arrived.
Exactly as promised.
At 10:12 in the morning, a large white truck pulled up outside Travis’s house.
Two movers stepped out.
Then another.
They began carrying boxes from the garage.
Brittany stood on the front steps.
She was wearing sunglasses despite the cloudy weather.
Travis came outside shouting.
“What are you doing?”
One of the movers handed him a document.
“Sir, we’re here on behalf of Parker Holdings.”
“You can’t remove my belongings.”
“We’ve been instructed to remove company-owned property.”
Travis froze.
“What company-owned property?”
The mover looked at the inventory list.
“Appliances. Outdoor equipment. Furniture purchased through the company account. Several electronics.”
Brittany stared.
“What?”
The movers continued.
Inside the house, they began removing things she had always assumed belonged to Travis.
The television in the living room.
The sectional sofa.
The dining set.
The bedroom furniture.
The expensive outdoor grill.
Even the refrigerator.
Brittany watched in disbelief.
“Dad?”
Travis turned red.
“Your mother is insane.”
Then the garage door opened.
Inside sat a second vehicle.
A black SUV.
Brittany recognized it immediately.
She had driven it dozens of times.
She turned toward her father.
“That’s yours.”
“No.”
“You told me you bought it.”
Travis said nothing.
Brittany walked closer.
A Parker Holdings sticker was visible on the registration documents sitting on the dashboard.
Her face changed.
“What is going on?”
Travis grabbed the papers.
“Your mother is trying to humiliate me.”
“Did she buy this too?”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is the point?”
He looked at her.
And for the first time, Brittany saw something she had never seen on his face before.
Fear.
Real fear.
She stepped backward.
“Dad?”
He didn’t answer.
Her phone rang.
It was Vanessa.
Brittany answered.
“Where are you?”
“At Dad’s.”
“Oh.”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Brittany, maybe you should come home with me.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s something you need to know.”
Brittany’s face tightened.
“What?”
Vanessa took a breath.
“Your father didn’t tell you everything.”
Brittany looked toward the house.
“What didn’t he tell me?”
“That the mortgage was never his.”
Brittany slowly lowered the phone.
Behind her, another mover carried out a framed photograph.
It was a picture of Brittany at eleven.
Standing in front of the same house.
Smiling beside Travis.
Brittany stared at it.
Then at the house.
Then at her father.
Suddenly, a memory surfaced.
She remembered her mother dropping her off there years ago.
Her mother had stood beside the driveway while Travis opened the door.
Brittany remembered asking:
“Mom, why don’t you come inside?”
And her mother had smiled.
“Because this is your time with Dad.” At the time, Brittany had thought her mother was simply being distant.
Now she wondered if she had misunderstood everything.
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