Party of Four

Acceptance - Cole

Mom made an offer on the house. The words kept echoing, bouncing around in my head. Maybe there was some part of me that knew this would eventually happen, but I hadn’t expected it so soon. I tried to maintain slow breaths, but my heart beat was going crazy in my chest. I was sure Nica could feel it. I tried to focus on her. Tried to ground myself in the weight of her leg over my hips, her hand on my chest. I felt her forehead pressed against my back. This was reality. She was reality. Not whatever crazy anxious thoughts my brain was cooking up.

There were some good things about the house. I listed them in my head, trying to cope with this new life we would be entering:

One, the house was beautiful, both on the inside and the outside.

Two, there was a pool, that was pretty cool.

Three, the guest house meant mom might be serious about moving with us.

Four, the fenced in back yard meant safety for Venus outside.

Five, there was more than enough space for all of us.

I couldn’t shake the fact that it was Stonehaven Estates though. This was the kind of place that doctors and lawyers and corrupt businessmen lived. Not restaurant workers. I could already imagine the neighbors turning their nose up at us. We would be the vagabond hippie family mucking up their neighborhood with the smell of weed. Our old beat up cars would lower property value just by being in the drive.

Would I have to start dressing every day like I had last night? Would I have to join a country club?

I couldn’t begin to imagine how we were going to be able to afford it either. Even if we sold both of our houses, would the money actually be enough? Maybe somebody like Eli could afford something like this. He was a manager, and he had stocks in Starbucks and Apple. Maybe he could teach me to invest.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. I tried to focus on Nica’s touch. Her gentle breath on my back. Her calmer heart beat. I held the breath for a few seconds before letting it out slowly.

I thought about the house we’d lived in when I was a kid, and we were still in Memphis. It was practically a mansion. At least, I believed it was…simply because there was a second floor and Riley and I were no longer sharing rooms. There was even a fireplace in every room. My mom had gotten a promotion, and we moved into something bigger. It never occurred to me it was simply a very old house, and we weren’t suddenly a part of high society.

Maybe the house in Stonehaven wasn’t necessarily a mansion. Maybe it was simply bigger. We now had needs that didn’t exist before, we were trying to fulfill them.

If it did mean living among high society then the schools were probably really good schools too. That would be important eventually. Another thing to add to my list.

I closed my eyes, continuing to focus on my breathing. My anxiety, or a good part of it, was calmed for the moment, and I drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up, I was alone. My bedroom door was ajar, and I could hear voices from downstairs. I stretched and yawned before rolling out of bed and heading for the kitchen.

I found Nica sitting at the counter next to my mom eating fries while Riley told her how mom had tricked him into a private showing.

“I knew you’d never go otherwise,” mom argued, a smug smile forming on her face. Then her eyes fell on me. “Hey sleepyhead, we picked up some lunch.” She pushed a bag across the counter towards me and I smiled.

“Thank you.”

Nica continued asking questions about the house. Aside from the many pictures Riley took, he also videoed a walkthrough, which he pulled up to show her. I leaned over my bag of food to see the video too.

“There’s also a tennis court, a lake, and a playground,” Riley explained. “It reminded me of where you live, just really fancy.”

Nica smiled, and I couldn’t help wondering if Riley was pointing all of this out to try and influence her decision about moving in with us. Between our own private pool in the backyard and community amenities like the ones she already had…it would be like upgrading for her.

My mind betrayed me as I started thinking about us taking our baby out in a stroller for sunset walks around the lake, or our toddler to the playground. Teaching them how to swim…

And Venus would be happy with the backyard too. Even though it was smaller, there was plenty of pretty trees in the backyard, especially around the guest house. There was a large covered patio off the back of the house too, with stepping stones leading to the in-ground pool. The pool itself looked like it had been custom designed by the current owners. For the most part, it was long and oval, but there was a section on the far side that branched off into a circle. The circle was bordered by a rock formation housing a faux-waterfall. It looked as if that part of the pool was shallower too, and I noticed what looked like bench seating under the surface, creating a little alcove where people could just sit and relax in the water.

“We would have to put a fence around the pool,” I pointed out, thinking about the dangers it posed. Toddlers were fast, and once our baby started walking, the pool would be a safety hazard.

“Mom’s already planning to look into it. I’m also going to look into installing a slide,” Riley replied.

They continued to talk about the house and the community amenities, turned out, there was a lot, while Nica and I ate. Seeing Riley’s excitement and my mom’s certainty that this was going to happen made me realize I had no choice but to accept it. At least it ticked all of my boxes for what was important to me. Well…most of them at least…

“Are you and dad really going to move into the guest house if the offer gets accepted?”

“That’s the plan,” she nodded.

“Dad’s okay with moving?”

She nodded, “Out of the houses we’ve been looking at, he actually picked this one himself.”

“How are we going to afford it? Even selling both-“

“Cole,” Riley cut me off, ending my spiral before it could start again. “Between both of our houses, we live on about six acres. That alone is worth more than enough for a substantial down payment. Then you factor in that both houses are nice. They’re just small. They’re more suitable to…well…a normal family. We don’t have a normal family.”

I took in a deep breath, held it, then released it slowly. He was right.