Somebody's home

He started acting suspicious a few weeks after the wedding. Friday nights were never spent at home. He told everyone he was sleeping alone. Too many job parties. A friend in common is all that it took. She found out the truth within a month. 

Her parents begged her not to say a word until the guilt was split from his own lips, until he regretted it all. But that never happened. So she remained in silence, not because she was forgiving, but because there was simply nothing to be said anymore. Because love was not even there anymore. 

For a year they lived in the same house without kissing each other. He didn’t bother to apologize nor try to fix his mistakes. By the end of 2018, there were more than ten women beneath his midnight sweat. That was not the man she said yes to by the church. Although she tried to convince herself in the beginning that it was probably something she had done, that would never fit in the simpler reason of why Britton has been cheating: he was an idiot. He has always been an idiot and she took too long to figure that out. Like wolves become easy prey for reckless men, she has foolishly fallen into the trap. The whole marriage was a lie.

However, in spite of the endless sorrow of having been deceived by the guy you had just gotten married to, Emily’s family kept instructing her to insist on the relationship. They said that he might not be 'the perfect husband' but he was respected in the neighborhood and his money was good. Indeed, he worked for a big company in the city center and the salary was keeping the couple’s house standing. As Emily was a dance teacher with only four classes a week, what she received didn’t cover for the lifestyle set by her and Britton in a classic american house in the countryside. Therefore, even though she was not happy to share a home with him, they remained together. Sticking to the man seemed to be the only choice. No matter how depreciating it was to be married to someone that has cheated on you and continues to do so, or, worse than that, someone that makes you feel invisible in your own house, she took things as they came.

Her parents, despite not financially helping her to become independent once again, were understanding. Being considerably old and conservative, they believed the daughter’s marriage should continue no matter what, but they listened every time she talked about how things were complicated at home and how unhappy she was. She explained how powerless she had been feeling and they always respectfully listened despite not agreeing with the idea of a divorce, assuming that would not be well seen in the neighborhood.

So Emily, financially dependent on the husband and darken by the parent's coolness regarding her situation, spent one year living inside a loveless house. Mom and dad only visited on holidays and that was the main reason for her to start looking for new friends. The other dance teachers in the school where she taught were more of colleges than people she could actually trust. That mistreated woman was in need of more kindhearted energy.

In that way, when 2018 was finally coming to an end, Emily entered a book club in the city center for readers of all ages and kinds. They welcomed her with the warmth of a hot homemade food and assured her they would do their best to make her feel treasured and safe. After telling those caring people about what she had been through at home, some of them developed strong affection for the woman due to what seemed to be pity mixed with actual empathy. Anyway, she got herself the friends she was looking for.

There was Mindy, the one in charge of the club's daily activities, Charlie, the nice guy that always brought peanuts to share with the group, and Sam, an elder woman who Emily instantly became close friends with. 

After new year’s eve, the two of them were constantly sitting together in the club and texting each other for the rest of the day. Emily had found someone she could vent with. Since Sam’s husband had left her for some younger girl, they shared similar burdens. That helped Emily sympathize with the woman really fast. The hardships were alike.

Sam helped Emily for many months by making her company when Britton was not home or simply when she didn’t want to be home. They would go to the city library and spend hours talking their hearts out. In one of those evenings, Sam found out that her friend had a dream she had never told anyone before. Emily always secretly wanted to run her own hotel someday. 

While Sam loved to know that private desire and got excited with the idea of her friend starting her own business, Emily explained cheerlessly how achieving that dream was tremendously far from happening. She had debts and no simple knowledge of how to manage a hotel. Administration was her husband’s thing. She had only expertise in dancing and, still, her work at the school was not recognized in the art community. It seemed like it was going to take a long time until financial stability allowed her to start her own business. 

Sam put the matter aside for a few days so that it didn’t haunt Emily, but she kept believing the friend should invest in the hotel as fast as possible if she was honestly looking forward to that. In this way, the chances were she would become successful just in time to free herself from Britton. She would finally be able to start a new life. However, Emily was afraid of doing something stupid regarding money or even causing embarrassment to her parents, that always had a close eye on her life. So she tried not to think about it too much, assuming hope might eventually guide her way to victory.

Nevertheless, after the confession, every time the club asked a book reading involving characters chasing something they really wanted, like Frankenstein´s lonely despair in order to destroy the horrible creature he had given born to, or Katniss´struggle to save everyone she loved from President Snow, her deep and old as herself desire pounded hard inside her heart. After bringing the subject to her new best friend, that dream was set in her veins. You can´t ignore the ideas that won´t leave you alone. 

Monday. April 15. 2019. Last verse finished. The sun and her flowers, by Rupi Kaur. Poetry as a healing tool. It was the final motivation Emily needed. No more delaying. She was going to make a move.

If Britton suspected of anything, he expressed no thoughts about it. She was being very cautious, planning her steps like a predator carefully waiting for the right moment to attack. When she started asking for his college books, he thought it was for some project in the club, but after lending other things, like his old scrawled notes about economics, he realized they were for something else. Emily said that she was trying to help a friend who wanted to improve the financial management of a company she runned and Britton seemed to buy it, despite thinking more advanced books were needed if that was the case. He didn’t pay too much attention to what she borrowed or didn’t borrow from his office since he was more concerned about trying to coordinate the endless amount of feminine calls he received day after day. For a guy who graduated in Administration, Britton was doing a bad job in administering his lovers.

Emily began with the easy ones. Basic instruction about management and market dynamics. Little by little she started to understand how things worked in the businessworld and what it took to be a part of it. She even leaned several times over the husband's shelf for documents from his own job when he wasn’t around. Once he had left for his daily cheating, barely looking at her in the eyes before leaving, Emily studied those files every night for weeks. Instead of feeling lonely and crying on the half-empty bed, she filled it with knowledge. Books. Papers. Notes. From Britton and, after some time, from Emily herself. The first step to switch that loveless house for a crowded but yet cuzzy hotel by the beach was being taken. 

No one knew what she was doing. Not even Sam. People had always been aware of what happened in her life and they had always made a point of speaking their minds about it. Everyone had always told Emily what to do and that’s why she would never be entirely free unless she acted all by herself in this. The dream was hers to chase. 

Not only did she want to pursue this idea on her own, she genuinely believed she could. In a paradoxical way, for the first time since Emily was a little girl, she was not feeling small. Moreover, the fulfilling thought of having her own space where she could meet a lot of different people and mean something to them kept her going. 

When August arrived, the book club members were already enjoying a new version of Emily. A passionate one. She would come into the room with an honest smile on her face and eyes full of hope as if she was just about to win some kind of contest. But it’s not competition that was guiding her. It’s respect. For herself, for everything she has been through and for what she deserved. No matter what it looked like, that woman was confident and fairly happy with herself. 

Her genuine state of sweetness attracted people from different professional areas in the building where the club’s room was situated. Through conversations with many of them, she managed to gain a few investors and potential employees. Furthermore, she spread the word about the future hotel through social media under an anonymous username, so that her family wouldn’t know what she was up to. Emily eventually let the cat out of the bag with Sam since she recognized that the friend was going to be tremendously excited about her plans and, mainly, because they were best friends. Sam, as expected, brightened by the news, not only offered help in the backstage of the project but also offered to promote the hotel’s official marketing system. Emily smiled the second she heard it. So far, the road she was leading appeared to be conclusive.

The only thing left for them to do was finding a place. That was not too demanding since Emily had been keeping an eye on the housing market for a few months. Moreover, having learned about safe investments, she had savements a property could be initially bought with. So the two friends sat down in front of a computer desk in the city library on a hot afternoon and found exactly what they were looking for. By dusk, bottles of wine had been opened up. Emily had never felt more accomplished. 

On the other hand, it didn’t take long to Britton figure things out. The following morning, he was asking about the phone calls requiring some ‘purchase confirmation’. He also made plenty of questions regarding the books Emily had borrowed from him and the paperwork that was mysteriously stolen from his shelf. Since the guy was begging for explanation, Emily calmly told him everything. 

She explained all her struggles in order to make her dream come true, from learning how to manage a business to hiring people she knew she could count on. Her way to success. Her way to freedom. 

She owned a hotel. The time couldn’t be more right for her to clear things up with Britton. With her parents. With everyone. Once they all knew what the woman had done, most face expressions gave away astonished emotions. It was hard for them to believe she had actually built what would lead her to her own kingdom within some time. 

The house was near the book club and the dance school, which Emily knew she could never abandon. It had six bedrooms with windows facing the beach and a long roomy hall, perfect for a hotel. The salty smell of the sea coming from the main door made every minute inside the place feel special. Breakfast was always marvelous. The workers were patient and kind. Nothing seemed more right. 

Friday. November 8. 2019. Emily’s parents visited the daughter's hotel for the first time since its opening. Feeling deadly mistaken but yet very proud, they congratulated her accomplishment and asked for a room. Emily tried to hide the joy but could barely help smiling when mom and dad sat down at the breakfast table and waited for the waitress to come.

According to them, everything tasted delicious. The sky above the sea in front of their eyes created a genuine work of art, a painting dyed in pale blue. Therefore, the daughter could feel nothing but peace when the old couple beside her said each food had its particular taste. That added to the view made the soft feeling much more loving. 

To Emily, everything had the same taste though. The taste of everything she deserved.