Page 11 of Shattered Dreams

“Both.”

We drive around town and surrounding towns to check out different open houses. Rylee declares she loves each and every one of them, meaning she is no help at all. And as I step foot inside each place, I realize more and more that I couldn’t give a shit where I live. I just need a house to myself with my daughter, so I can stop relying on my parents.

These houses all feel the same to me. The only difference is the layout and the schools. But I’d already narrowed down my search to those in the best neighborhoods, so that isn’t helpful in choosing.

Rylee doesn’t seem to fall in love with one over the other. She’s excited the moment she steps into each house and every room inside it.

She didn’t care about the one with the pool more than she cared about the one that would give her her own bathroom. Maybe when she’s older, she’d care about that, but it doesn’t mean much to her right now.

We’re on our way home, all the different layouts going through my head. I should make a decision. Pick something. I could put an offer on any of those houses, over asking, and I’d get it. But none of those houses stick out to me.

There’s nothing wrong with them. They just… don’t feel like home. I wonder if I’ll ever have that feeling again now that Victoria is gone.

I’m turning onto the main road to get back to my parents’ house when I see a sign for an open house. It wasn’t on my list, so I’m guessing it must have just gone up because I don’t remember seeing it before.

“One more house to look at, pumpkin.”

“Okay, Daddy,” she says as she looks out the window.

We turn down the road and pull up in front of the house. There are three cars in the driveway, but you could fit two more easily. There is a large tree in the front yard, taking up most of the right side of it. Just beyond that is a privacy fence with bushes along the bottom, all well taken care of. The house is bigger than what I want, but something tells me to go in and check it out anyway.

I help Rylee out of her booster seat and take her hand as we walk up the path to the front door that’s open. A woman with a clipboard and a navy blue dress suit is standing there with a big smile.

“Welcome!” she says. “Please, take a look around, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask any of us with these name tags on.” She points to her name tag, which says Cara. “Could I just have your name and number?”

I give her the info, which she writes it down on the paper on her clipboard.

“Wonderful,” she says.

Rylee and I walk into the house, and immediately I hear her gasp. “Daddy, it’s like that movie!” She lets go of my hand and runs to the stairs and starts going up them. I know immediately she means they are like the stairs in Beauty and the Beast. It’s one of her favorite movies.

Is this kid really going to be won over by a staircase?

I follow after her. She’s already run off to the right and found a large bedroom painted in pink with lighter pink butterflies all over the walls and a large sliding door that leads to a deck that she’s already on.

“Rylee,” I call with a laugh. “You need to slow down.”

I make my way out onto the deck and find her sitting on a swing next to a young woman and man.

“I am so sorry,” I say.

“It’s okay,” the woman says. “She’s very excited.”

“I want to stay here,” Rylee says, kicking the floor to swing faster, but it hardly does anything with the other people on it.

“We need to see the rest of the house first. We can come back to the swing later.”

She looks at me with a pout. “Do you promise?”

The woman hides a laugh behind her hand, and the man is smiling.

“Yes, pumpkin. I promise.”

With a huff, she gets up and walks over to me, taking my hand.

“Do you like this room?” I ask.

“Yes! It’s pink and that’s my favorite color.”