Chapter 7 - THE BOSTON OFFER
Paula had not accepted the Boston job.
Now the offer became legal ammunition.
Salary:
$168,000.
Current salary:
$119,000.
Better benefits.
Hybrid schedule.
Strong school district near proposed housing.
On paper, relocation could benefit the family.
Andrew worked remotely three days a week and could transfer offices.
But his promotion track was tied to their current region.
Moving would cost him.
Marriage tension emerged.
Paula said:
“I’m not staying because your mother wants access.”
Andrew replied:
“I’m not moving because my mother is awful.”
Both were reacting to Linda.
Rachel told them:
“Make the relocation decision as if Linda did not exist.”
Hard.
They had not realized how much she occupied their marriage.
Andrew had always lived within fifteen miles of his mother.
Paula had spent years bending around that.
Sunday dinners.
Holiday rules.
School pickup preferences.
Which pediatrician.
Which preschool.
Linda called it family.
Paula increasingly called it interference.
Andrew called it normal until the locked bedroom.
Now everything looked different.
That was dangerous too.
One extreme can make every past event look sinister.
Not all of it was.
Linda had genuinely loved Mia.
May you like
She had also begun treating access to Mia as a right.
Those truths could coexist.
