Although it is said that neighbors can either become friends or enemies, I never expected that my neighbors would become both in a single day. What started off as a straightforward favor turned into a furious argument and a bizarre turn of events that left both of us speechless. When my husband, Caleb, left me six years ago, I never imagined that I would be standing in the kitchen, scrubbing the same counter over and over again, wondering how things could have become so disorganized without him.
Lila, I am 48 years old, a mother of two, and I am currently working from home for a support hotline. I am attempting to keep everything in order. Life did not go the way I had hoped it would.
Do you know that Caleb and I used to fantasize about our future together? This is the kind of home that we would make together. The reality is that those dreams did not come true, and I was left to handle everything on my own.
I was left on my alone with our son Jude, who was eight years old at the time, and our daughter Ivy, who was a newborn. He left one night, claiming that he needed “time to find himself.” Given that he never came back, I suppose he discovered something greater than time. “Mom, would you mind if I had some cereal?” I was jolted out of my thoughts by the gentle tone of Ivy’s voice.
From her seat on the kitchen chair, her large brown eyes, which were so brimming with innocence, glanced up at me. “Of course, my sweetheart. Only a brief moment.” I mustered up a smile and reached for the cereal that was sitting on the shelf.
As is his custom, Jude, who is now 14 years old, stepped in with his earbuds in. He did not even look up once. “Are you sure you’re going to see Liam?” he murmured.
“Don’t stay out past your bedtime. I tried to get his attention by calling out, “And finish your homework when you’re back,” but he had already left the house. Since Caleb had left, I had been patching together my life, and this was just another ordinary day in that process.
It wasn’t simple for me to raise two children and pay the expenses by myself. It was helpful that I had a job in a call center, but it wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned myself doing. Even yet, a job is a job, and that was the only thing that mattered.
When Sadie, our new neighbor who is in her early 30s, started knocking on my door, I was surprised. It seemed as though she hadn’t slept in days because her eyes were puffy. I’d want to ask you a very important favor, Lila.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
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