Clara and Lily to the house. Our hous

orted out," he announced, carrying in a large suitcase. "Lily' s ro

n and looked at me, his

maller bedroom upstairs. It' l

lothes, but Clara' s favorite brand of tea, her special scented candles, a framed photo

dust and instructed me to deep clean the guest room. He knew Lily only

rpose I hadn' t seen in years, a pu

s Clara casually sipped her tea from the ceramic cup I had made in a po

e, his face a ma

r? It' s a cup, Ava.

," I repeated

ng widow. Her daughter needs stability. And you' re worried about a st

o make me feel small and

hey were j

ing us with a small, triumphant smile on her lips. She

igned me, the room that felt like a prison cell, and I packed a small box. Inside, I pla

s university address. I didn' t include a return add

f the closet, my fingers brushed against a dusty photo alb

ed so much like me. The same dark hair, the same shape of the eyes, the same way she tilted her h

sion of Clara. A version of Clara that look

left m

for the woman he could never have, his own brother' s wife. And now that his brot

r marriage. I closed the album and shoved it back into the darkness of the closet. The house