Chapter 4: Standing Her Ground

7

After dinner, Derek knocked on my door.

Derek’s house had long been empty. Since he was young, he’d always stayed in the guest room at our place.

"About the land we drew today, let’s swap with Aubrey Lane’s family."

"She’s a widow with a kid. That plot is too big for her to manage. The one behind our house is smaller, just right for her and her son."

If I hadn’t been reborn, and hadn’t learned about Derek’s secret manipulation from the subtitles,

I might really have been happy, thinking he’d left the better plot for me.

[What the heck, is the guy really this shameless? So eager to snatch the gold left by the main character’s parents?]

[Not just snatch, but give it away to his true love. Hilarious.]

[Main character, don’t get lovestruck!]

Looking at these subtitles, I couldn’t help but smile:

"No need. That plot has always belonged to us. After so many years, I’m attached to it."

Derek looked troubled and frowned.

I watched the way Derek’s brow knit, the tips of his ears turning red like they always did when he didn’t get his way. The old me would’ve tried to soothe him, but now, I just let the silence hang. I could almost hear my mom’s voice: Stand your ground, Nat. This time, I would. I caught my reflection in the glass—chin set, shoulders squared. For the first time, I looked more like my mother than ever before.

8

The next day, I started packing up the house.

After sorting out some practical but unmovable household items—like the old microwave and the big wooden table—I knocked on Mrs. Willis’s door next door.

Mrs. Willis had a son two years younger than me, Caleb Willis.

Caleb had gotten into college that year, but after an accident, he was left with a limp and couldn’t go.

In my previous life, Derek was gone most of the year, so I often looked after Mrs. Willis’s family, and they looked after me.

Once, my adopted son had a high fever, and the urgent care was closed at midnight. I was so anxious I hugged the child and cried.

It was Mrs. Willis who comforted me, and Caleb, without a word, dragged his lame leg out to buy medicine in the middle of the night.

He only returned at dawn, his injured foot covered in mud and blood.

Mrs. Willis’s family was very good to me.

Their family wasn’t well off, and Caleb was injured.

Before I left, I wanted to help them as much as I could.

I gave all the usable things to Mrs. Willis.

Her eyes turned red:

"Natalie, are you going to leave with Derek after you get married?"

I just said:

"I just won’t be living here long-term, Mrs. Willis. I’ll still come back to visit when I can."

She thought for a bit, then pulled me aside:

"It’s good to stay close."

She jerked her chin, signaling me to look at the nearby farmland:

"Natalie, it’s not that I want to poke at your heart, but your Derek is a good catch—you have to keep an eye on him. Look, it’s a good thing you won’t be in town long, or he’d be shacking up with that little widow if you blinked too long."

Isn’t that the truth.

Derek was helping Aubrey fix a tractor, while Aubrey smiled and wiped his sweat with a handkerchief.

I sneered.

Turns out it was always this obvious. I just never noticed in my previous life.

But it doesn’t matter anymore.

Mrs. Willis’s kitchen smelled of fried onions and cinnamon. Her fridge was covered in faded school photos and a magnet from the state fair. The linoleum was sticky underfoot. She squeezed my hand, her knuckles gnarled and warm. Caleb shuffled out, hair mussed and sweatpants riding low on his hips, giving me a half-smile and a nod, like we shared some secret understanding about how people can disappoint you, but neighbors sometimes don’t.