Chapter 5
The brass knocker on the front door of the suburban house felt heavy under Maya’s fingers. She lifted it and let it fall twice, the sharp metallic sound echoing through the quiet porch. Behind her, Liam stood casually by the trunk of his sedan, arms crossed over his white t-shirt, watching the door with an expression of mild amusement. They had unloaded the three cardboard boxes onto the welcome mat, stacking them neatly so they blocked the entryway just enough to be an unmistakable annoyance.
The heavy oak door swung open with a soft click, revealing Eleanor Vance, Brad’s mother. Eleanor was a woman in her late fifties with impeccably styled blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a silk blouse that looked as though it had never seen a wrinkle in its existence. She took one look at Maya, then cast a withering glance down at the stack of cardboard boxes blocking her threshold. Her expression hardened instantly.
“Maya,” Eleanor said, her voice dripping with the practiced frost of a woman who viewed social interactions as tactical warfare. “What is the meaning of this blockade? And why are you here unannounced? Brad is out of the country.”
“I know he’s out of the country, Eleanor,” Maya replied, her voice remarkably steady, surprising even herself. The tremor of anxiety that usually accompanied interactions with her former prospective mother-in-law was entirely absent. “These are his things. The rest of his clothes, his books, and his vinyl records. Since he’s been too busy to pick them up from my apartment, I thought I’d save him the trip.”
Eleanor narrowed her eyes, stepping out onto the porch and looking down at the taped boxes as if they contained biohazard waste. “This is entirely inappropriate. You could have shipped these, or stored them until he returned from his trip with Lily. It’s terribly inconvenient for me to have these sitting in my foyer.”
“It was terribly inconvenient for me to live with them in my living room for a week while my ex-fiancé honeymooned with my sister,” Maya said, her tone devoid of anger, carrying instead the chilling clarity of absolute truth.
Eleanor flinched slightly, though she quickly recovered her aristocratic composure. “Mistakes were made, Maya. Young people make impulsive choices. Lily and Brad simply realized they had more in common than—"
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“Spare me the speech, Eleanor,” Maya interrupted, her dark eyes locking onto the older woman’s gaze with a quiet intensity that forced Eleanor to take an involuntary half-step back. “I didn’t come here to argue about their choices. I came to return his property. My obligations to your family ended the moment he sent that text message. Consider this chapter closed.”
Before Eleanor could formulate a sufficiently scathing retort, Maya turned on her heel and walked down the steps toward Liam’s car. Liam watched her approach, a slow, approving smile spreading across his face. He opened the passenger door for her, closing it gently once she slid inside. As he walked around to the driver’s side, he glanced back at Eleanor, who was left standing alone on her porch, staring speechlessly at the cardboard boxes blocking her door.
