He Gave My Room to Her, So I Took My Life Back novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Wrong Address
Brooke watches the lock notifications as the family lets itself into the house she paid half for, finds out the wrong address was the plan, sees her bedroom handed to Kendra on a livestream, and revokes every code but her own from the car.
A little before seven, my phone told me someone had unlocked the front door of my house.
I was standing in the gravel lot of a closed fish shack by the water, staring at a dark window.
The phone buzzed again, and again.
The lock app logged every code as it was used: my fiancé's, his brother's, his sister's, and his friend's.
I owned half of that house, and I was forty minutes away from it.
My fiancé's family had a rule for every gathering. Nobody gave the address. They gave clues.
If you asked for the address, you failed, because real family didn't need to ask.
If you guessed wrong, you stayed out and paid for whatever your mistake cost everyone else.
I had guessed wrong for two years, and I was always the only one who did.
Tonight was our housewarming, and I had paid for the caterer, the bartender and the chairs.
When I asked Colby where it was, he said, "Think about our first date. You'll know."
Our first date was here in Gig Harbor, so I came. Then a screenshot landed in the family chat, sent to the wrong thread.
It came from a smaller chat called Table Four: Colby, Brent, Tori and Kendra.
Brent had written: "Still at the harbor. Keep quiet till she gives up."
Under it, Colby had answered with a laughing face.
I read it twice, and I stopped being confused.
I had never guessed wrong. They had sent me to the wrong place on purpose, every time.
I didn't call to yell, and I didn't call to say sorry the way I always did.
I got in the car and drove toward Tacoma.
Colby called before I reached the bridge. I let it ring until the last second, then answered through the car speakers.
"Where the hell are you?" he said. "I made the clues so easy. First date, fresh start. The party's at our new house."
He waited for me to thank him.
I said the signal was bad, said it again, and hung up.
He didn't call back. He figured I was on my way, grateful for his reminder.
I parked on the corner across from our house with the engine off.
Every window was lit. Cars lined the driveway and the curb, and through the glass wall of the living room I could see people holding drinks.
I didn't get out. I opened Colby's Instagram instead.
He was live, with four hundred people watching.
Kendra sat in the middle of my couch holding a glass. She was Colby's oldest friend, and she had told everyone she'd just gotten divorced and given up her apartment.
None of them had ever met her husband, not even Colby, who had known her since they were eight.
Kendra had also found this house. She'd sent the listing to Colby at midnight, and I had thanked her with a casserole.
The Low Tides played in the background. It was her favorite band.
I had added three songs to tonight's playlist, and all three were gone.
"One more announcement," Colby said, raising his glass to the camera. "Kendra is staying with us for a while."
The room cheered.
Kendra ducked her head. "I really didn't want to be a bother."
"You could never be a bother," Tori said, pulling her close. "You need your family right now."
Colby swung the phone toward the stairs. "Brooke's probably lost again. You know how she is."
Everyone laughed.
The camera went up to the second floor and down the hall to the primary bedroom, which Colby and I had painted together, twice.
Two gray suitcases stood open by the bed. Kendra's dresses hung in my closet. Her skincare covered my vanity, and the sheets I'd ordered had been swapped for hers.
An orange cat jumped onto my pillow.
I am allergic to cats, and not one of them had ever remembered it.
A viewer typed, "Is she in the guest room?"
Colby laughed. "The primary. It faces south and gets the best light. It'll be good for her mood."
"They insisted," Kendra said softly.
"We all agreed on it," said Colby.
I wasn't part of that "we."
My phone lit up with his message: "Are you seriously going to make a scene right now?"
Tori wrote: "Family means sacrifice. Don't be cold."
I had paid half the down payment with the money my mother left me.
My name was on the deed.
I opened the lock app. I was the only administrator, because I had set it up myself.
I removed every code except mine.
On the porch, the front door swung shut behind Kendra, who had stepped out with her phone in her hand.
The app buzzed once. Invalid code.
She tried again. Invalid code. Then a third time.
Kendra looked up from the keypad and across the street, straight at my car.
She smiled and lifted her hand in a small, friendly wave.
Behind her the door opened, and Colby came down the steps with his phone held up, still live.
I turned the key and drove away.
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