Reese plucked it out of her hands, pulled the heels out, and stuffed her feet into them using Matty’s shoulder to balance, then quickly slid the box and house shoes under a nearby table. They’d get that later. “Come look.”
Reese had been so relieved when Bette agreed to grab the cake. There would have been no way for her to hide it from Matty. It was a chocolate and vanilla marbled sheet cake with blue and white buttercream icing, little hammers and wrenches, and “Congratulations Matty” written in white icing. It was prettier than Reese had expected.
“Oh, Reese, this is... shit, I might cry,” she laughed, looking up at the ceiling and sniffling back tears.
Reese looped her arm around Matty’s waist. “Go for it. No one’s going to judge.”
“Matty, tell me about this new job,” Jake, Elsie’s husband, said, clapping her on the shoulder. Reese released her arm around her girlfriend but stood beside her, beaming with pride.
Matty rubbed the back of her head, letting out a little laugh. “Well, it’s still in maintenance. I’m working for a woman who owns several commercial buildings with salons and tanning businesses. She also has two large apartment complexes, with another two being built over there behind the hospital. Once those are up and running, I’ll get to hire an assistant to help me, so I’ll, well, I guess I’ll be a manager.”
Reese didn’t miss the glint of excitement in Matty’s eye. She was so happy to see it. Matty had more than proven herself worthy of a good-paying job. She had a steady head and took it seriously.
The day after the wedding, Matty called Grammy.
She asked Reese to sit beside her and hold her hand while she did it. It hadn’t been an easy call. It took several rounds of asking Grammy to stop interrupting her to get it all out. She would call Grammy every other week on Sunday to see how she was doing. If she mentioned Clay, then she would hang up. She would not go over to the house, and she would have to ask someone else for help for the time being. Grammy pushed the boundary for three weeks until she accepted Matty wasn’t giving in. Their relationship has improved. It was going so well that Matty asked Grammy if she would like to have lunch next Sunday after church at a restaurant so that they would be in a safe space. Matty’s treat. Her eyes lit up now when she talked to her and that made Reese’s heart swell. Matty deserved to be loved and treated well.
“That sounds like a good setup. I think you’ll like it.”
She loved seeing the thrilled look on Matty’s face. “Thank you, sir.”
Despite Reese’s concerns about hosting a party for the first time, she thought that it seemed to have gone well. Over the next three hours, they ate, mingled, and, much to her surprise, opened a few housewarming gifts. She hadn’t expected that. It couldn’t have gone better. She was left feeling overjoyed and loved.
“Are you sure you don’t want help cleaning up?” Haley asked as the party wound down.
“No, we’ve got it. Thank you, though.” She pulled Haley into a hug.
“Okay, but only if you’re sure,” she said as they parted. “You know, I think you’ve hit it out of the park. This house is amazing. It’s a completely different house with so much life.”
“It feels so much different. It’s a warm and inviting place instead of, well, just awful.”
“I think so too. Thank you for having us. We loved getting to meet some of Matty’s people. She’s really good for you. And after talking to Bette, I think you’re great for her too.”
That made her heart beat faster. She loved that others felt like they were meant for each other.
Once everyone was gone, the house felt strangely quiet. The excitement still hung in the air, but it wasn’t too heavy.
With the feeling of success, she decided she would definitely do the final step in reclaiming the house. It was more than time.
While Matty was stuffing empty plates and cups into trash bags, she went upstairs.
Her bedroom no longer doubled as a kitchen. It didn’t have a coffee pot or two laundry baskets for clothing, towels, and bedding. Her bed had been moved from the far wall since the table for the makeshift kitchen was gone. But there was still one thing left in the house that would truly rid it of Joyce. The box of notes.
She thought when she picked it up, she would have a heavy feeling, but she didn’t. It was more like grabbing the pot of leftovers that had well overstayed in the refrigerator. It needed to go.
When she walked down the stairs, each foot felt lighter. The burden was about to be done. Like she had set the trash out on the curb, and it just needed to be picked up.
“You know, I think this was—” Matty started talking the instant Reese was in the living room but then halted when she spotted the box.
Reese didn’t falter. “Join me outside with a box of matches?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Reese was smiling warmly as she exited through the back door in the kitchen. They still needed to work on creating a nice backyard. It wasn’t really her thing, but Matty had all sorts of ideas. For now, it was a patchy backyard with some plastic chairs and a small round fire pit.
She set the box on one of the chairs before going over to the modest grill near the back door on the porch. They kept it there when not in use. Under it was a nearly empty bag of charcoal and a bottle of lighter fluid. She grabbed the bottle as Matty was coming out the door. Her eyes widened at the sight of the bottle, but she didn’t say anything.
Normally, Matty would start the fire pit, but Reese wanted to do it herself, even if it wasn’t the best way. She just needed the box, lighter fluid, and a match. It didn’t need to be pretty.
