My husband brought his mother unannounced and forced me to wake up at 4:40 AM to prepare her oatmeal and meds. I grabbed my suitcase and left. Three days later

had made for problems I hadn’t caused.

Then I smiled.

“All right.”

Daniel smirked, convinced he had won.

I walked past the kitchen.

Instead, I entered the guest room, pulled my suitcase from the closet, and packed ten shirts, jeans, toiletries, my laptop, and one red folder from the locked bottom drawer of my desk.

Daniel followed me. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

He laughed. “Over oatmeal?”

“No. Over six years.”

His face hardened. “This is my house too. You can’t just walk out because Mom needs help.”

I zipped