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2
I dragged my suitcase home to find Clifford's car parked downstairs and the lights on in the apartment.
I keyed in my fingerprint. Wrong once. Wrong twice.
I was about to try a third time when the door opened.
A head poked out. It was Regina.
She saw it was me, and looked a little startled.
"Valerie... what are you doing here?"
I curved my lips.
"I'm coming home to my own place. Is there a problem with that?"
"Your place?"
She gave a little smile.
"You've got it wrong. This is company housing they gave me. You've been gone so long, maybe you came to the wrong door?"
I pushed the door open and let out a cold laugh.
"I have been gone a long time, but not long enough to forget my own home."
"Should I call the police and have someone come confirm it for you?"
Clifford came out of the bathroom, one hand toweling his hair, the other pulling my suitcase inside.
He saw me. His expression didn't change, and his tone was offhand.
"You've been away these past few years. I've been staying at our marriage home most of the time, and this place was sitting empty."
"Gina had just graduated and had nowhere to stay, so I let her move in."
I walked a circle through the apartment.
Everything I'd carefully arranged before I left had been dumped into the storage room, the kitchenware thrown into the cabinets in a mess.
The coats in the bedroom closet had been stuffed into bags, crushed out of shape.
My father's memorial portrait, which had stood on top of the living room cabinet, had been shoved carelessly into a drawer packed with junk, covered in dust.
I lifted it out gently, wiped it clean with my sleeve, and turned my glare on Regina.
"Why did you touch my father's portrait?"
Regina shrank back, her eyes reddening at once, and shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Valerie, I didn't mean to..."
"I live here alone, and every time I walk in I see that portrait. It scares me!"
"Scares you, and you moved in anyway?"
"Enough!"
Clifford cut me off sharply.
"Valerie, it's one photo. Do you have to blow it up into something this big?"
"She's a young girl, she scares easily. So she put it away. What's the harm?"
"One photo?"
I gave a cold laugh, staring at him.
"Say that again while you're looking at my father. I dare you."
He was quiet for a few seconds, then his voice softened.
"All right, don't be angry. I was in the wrong on this."
"I should have told you beforehand."
He reached out to take my hand as he spoke.
"You flew all morning and ran back and forth to the office. You're exhausted. Get some rest first."
"I've already made up the guest room for you."
I froze for a beat, wondering if I'd heard him wrong.
I shook his hand off, and when I spoke my throat was tight.
"You want me to sleep in the guest room?"
There was a trace of impatience in his eyes, but his tone stayed coaxing.
"I'll switch it back myself tomorrow. Just let Gina have it for tonight."
"Clifford! Don't push this too far!"
My chest was heaving.
"This is premarital property my father left me. It has nothing to do with you."
"I won't give it up, and I won't let her keep living here."
I looked up, checked my watch, and turned to Regina.
"It's eight o'clock now. I want you out of my home before nine thirty."
"Otherwise, I'll press charges against you for unlawful occupancy."
"Valerie, so now it's mine and yours between us?"
Clifford threw the towel onto the couch and looked at me coldly.
"For me it's only now. For you it's been all along."
I didn't look at him. I took gloves and a mask out of the drawer and walked into the bedroom.
I threw all of Regina's things out.
Then I hung my own clothes up, one piece at a time.
Regina stood where she was, at a loss.
Not until I threw out the last item did she rush over, scoop it up, and clutch it to her chest, tears falling in big drops.
She looked at me, her whole face wronged.
"Valerie, I know you're angry, but you can't just throw out the keepsake my grandmother left me!"
I watched that pitiful look on her face, wiped my hands with a look of dread.
"You're afraid of my father's portrait, so of course I'm afraid of your grandmother's keepsake too!"
"So there was nothing to do but throw it out."
Regina choked on her words. She stuffed her things back into her suitcase one by one, then sobbed to a grim-faced Clifford.
"Mr. Greer, I'm sorry to have caused you trouble."
"I'll go now."
Thunder crashed, and the rain came pouring down.
Clifford snatched up his car keys and strode for the door.
I watched his back and asked.
"Where are you going?"
He turned around, his eyes full of disappointment.
"When did you get so heartless? You used to worry about stray cats getting hurt on rainy days, didn't you?"
"The storms lately are dangerous. Driving her out this late at night, aren't you afraid something will happen to her?"
I curled up on the couch and nodded.
"You can go."
"But once you walk out that door, don't regret it."
His steps hitched. He didn't look back.
