6. 6
Remember (Acoustic) - Becky Hill
“ Y ou know, I never liked him.”
Jeff’s voice is bitter coming through the speaker. I lean back against the rickety kitchen table, staring at the hideous floral wallpaper.
Yesterday, after walking out of my parents’ house, I went straight into town and found the small real estate firm wedged between the post office and a bakery.
A woman named Rose Reynolds, all warm smiles and clicking heels, had taken one look at me and found me a one-bedroom rental just shy of fifteen minutes from town.
It’s small. Barely furnished. Five hundred a week. But it’s now mine.
“I think we’ve established that, Jeff.” I sigh. “And you’ll never let me forget it.”
“Damn straight. And yet, you still married him.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, letting the sting of his words settle. “Because at the time, he was the only one who made me feel seen. He said all the right things, did all the right things.”
“Zoe, he’s a master manipulator. He wasn’t showing you love… he was baiting you.” The way he says it—like it’s so obvious—makes my stomach churn. But he’s not wrong.
“I don’t even know what love is supposed to look like, Jeff. Or feel like.”
The admission is bitter on my tongue, but it’s the truth.
Jeff’s voice softens. “Love isn’t meant to break you, Zoe.
It’s not supposed to keep you small or make you question if you’re worth the space you take up.
Real love builds you. It’s patient, steady.
You’ll find it one day—you will—and when you do, you’ll wonder how you ever thought what you had before was enough. ”
My throat tightens, but he doesn’t stop. “And leaving him? That was fucking brave. You know that, right? The best decision you could’ve made. I’ve seen what he’s like with you—how he talks to you, how he dims you down without you even noticing. You’ve been carrying that weight for years.”
The words are brutal, cutting deep in the places I thought I’d hidden well.
But Jeff’s always been like this—brutally honest, no sugarcoating.
It’s one of the reasons Danielle Collins introduced us years ago—back when I’d just moved to Sydney and knew no one.
She was the first person I really connected with, the first one who made the city feel a little less overwhelming.
And through her, I met Jeff. She’d told me I needed someone who could call me out when I got too wrapped up in my own head, someone who wouldn’t let me wallow.
She wasn’t wrong. Jeff’s been doing exactly that ever since .
“But you don’t know what it was like.” My voice trembles, and I try to steady it. “No one does.”
“You’re right. I don’t. But I’ve got eyes, Zoe. And ears. I suspected, once. Remember? That night after Dani’s birthday, when you turned up with that story about slipping in the bathroom?”
My stomach churns. “It wasn’t—”
“Don’t you dare,” he snaps, cutting me off. “Don’t you stand there and insult my intelligence, babe. I didn’t push because I knew you’d shut me down, the way you shut everyone down. But don’t think for a second I didn’t know.”
My hands clench at my sides, nails digging into my palms. “Jeff, stop.”
“No,” he says. “Because you need to hear this. You deserved better than Liam. I’ve told you this before. And I’m not going to let you crawl back into some hole and act like it’s your fault that he’s a manipulative bastard.” Jeff exhales, collecting himself before he continues.
“I’ve drafted the paperwork,” he says, slipping into lawyer mode. “Asset division. Everything. I’ll email the copies when they’re done. Liam will do his thing, and he can try, but you just let me handle the rest.”
I sink onto the worn couch, phone pressed tight to my ear. My fingers trace the cracked leather of the armrest, and I chew on the inside of my mouth—a grounding habit. “You’re sure it’s airtight?”
Jeff huffs. “Zoe, do you think I’m some intern fumbling through my first case? It’s solid.”
The last part pulls a dry laugh from me, though there’s no humour in it. “Liam won’t go down without a fight.”
“Let him swing.” Jeff’s tone is colder than I’ve ever heard. “He can flail all he wants, but he’s outmatched. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
I want to believe him. God, I need to believe him. But the truth is, Liam doesn’t lose. Not easily. And when he does, he makes sure everyone pays for it.
My throat tightens, my voice barely audible. “You don’t know him like I do.”
“You’re right. I don’t. But I know you. And I know you’re stronger than you think. He only has power over you if you let him.”
That makes my chest ache because I know Jeff is right. But knowing it and believing it are two very different things. I shift, my eyes sweeping over the small space around me. It truly is a far cry from the sleek Sydney penthouse I own.
I kick off my flats, the most unremarkable pair I could dig out of my suitcase when I first arrived. The wedges I wore out of my parents’ house were left in the back of my car, abandoned along with the rest of the life I’d walked away from.
“You still with me?” Jeff asks, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, sorry.” I sit up straighter. “What were you saying?”
“I said you need to prepare yourself. Liam’s not going to roll over and sign the papers. He’ll intimidate, manipulate, and do whatever he can to make you regret this.”
“Yeah, I know,” I mutter.
“Good. Because I need you to think ahead. You’ve got leave from work, right?”
I nod, even though he can’t see me. “Yeah. My colleague wasn’t thrilled, but they’re covering for now. I said I’d try to work remotely, but it’s not the same.”
Yeah, my job is still there, even if I’m on leave indefinitely. Alicia, my second in charge, had been surprised but understanding when I told her. “Sort your life out,” she’d said with a warmth I didn’t deserve .
The office had been my anchor, my escape. Now it feels like a distant world.
“Nothing is right now,” Jeff says, his tone matter-of-fact. “But you’ll get through it. One step at a time.”
I swallow hard. “Thanks, Jeff.”
“You can thank me when this is over. Remember, he’s not walking away with everything. You worked for that life, too, Zoe. Don’t just hand it over because he throws a tantrum.”
His words sting because they cut too close to the truth. For years, I convinced myself I had everything—the city life, the dream job, the sprawling apartment with its glass walls and breathtaking views. I thought Liam was part of that dream.
My husband. My partner. My supposed everything.
But behind closed doors, the cracks had always been there.
Late nights spent crying quietly so he wouldn’t hear.
Conversations that felt like navigating a minefield, one wrong word enough to set him off.
And now? Now I have nothing. Or at least, that’s how it feels.
Jeff clears his throat. “Look, I know this is a lot. But you’re doing the right thing, Zoe. Liam’s grip on you? It’s over. He doesn’t get to win this.”
“Yeah,” I whisper, though my voice betrays my doubt.
“Good. I’ll call you tomorrow after you’ve had a chance to look everything over. And Zoe?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not alone in this. Remember that.” The line goes quiet, and I’m left sitting in the too-small living room, the weight of his words settling over me.
My phone vibrates on the coffee table, the screen lighting up with a name that makes my chest tighten: Dad . I sigh, dragging a hand through my hair before snatching it up.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Zoe,” he says, and the warmth in his voice cracks something in me. “Where are you?”
“Somewhere I can breathe,” I reply, staring at the peeling paint on the villa wall.
“You should come home,” he says, like it’s that simple.
“No,” I say quickly, sharper than I intend. “I just… I need space right now. To figure things out.”
“You can do that ‘ere,” he presses. “You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I can’t be around Mum.” My voice wavers. “Not right now.”
He sighs heavily; the kind of sigh that makes you feel like a teenager again. “I’m sorry. For the way we reacted. Especially your mother. It wasn’t fair.”
“No, it wasn’t.” The bitterness in my tone is hard to suppress.
There’s a pause, and I know what’s coming before he says it. “What really happened, Zoe? Why did you leave him?”
I close my eyes, leaning back against the couch. “It wasn’t working,” I reply vaguely. “We weren’t… right for each other.”
“Not right for each other?” he repeats, his tone disbelieving. “Zoe, that’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have right now, Dad,” I snap, my patience thinning.
Another pause. “You know, the day you married him, I had a feeling,” he says quietly.
“Here we go,” I mutter under my breath.
“I’m serious,” he continues, unbothered by my sarcasm.
“I knew something didn’t sit right with him.
But you didn’t want to hear it.” He chuckles through the speaker.
“You know, this is just like that time I told you not to sneak out to that party in year twelve and you ended up grounded for a month,” he says dryly.
“Oh, come on.”
“Or when I said no to you buying that used car from a dodgy bloke, and it broke down a week later?”
“Just say it, then,” I snap, gripping the phone tighter. “Say ‘I told you so’, Dad. It’s on the tip of your tongue. I know it.”
He sighs, and I can almost hear him shaking his head. “I’m not going to say that, Zoe. You’re beating yourself up enough without me adding to it.”
The fight drains out of me, leaving behind exhaustion. “I miss her, you know,” I say, my voice softer. “Mum. Before all of this.”
“I know. And she misses you. She just… doesn’t know how to show it.”
“Yeah, well, neither do I.”
“You always have been stubborn, Zoe. Unyielding, even,” he says, a hint of pride threading through his voice. “But you’re also soft inside. Even though I know you’ll figure this out, don’t shut us out completely, okay?”
“I’ll try,” I answer, though the words taste false in my mouth.
“I’m always ‘ere, you know that?” he adds. “A phone call away.”
“I know, Dad.”
“Good. Love you, Zo.”
“Love you too.” I hang up and stare at the phone in my hand. For now, the worst of the emotions is buried, packed away in some hidden corner of my mind. But the question lingers, sharp and unrelenting.
What the fuck do I do with myself now?