He shook his head. “No. Have a good night.”
Neil turned and walked into the garage. I’d changed the locks, but I’d left the garage code the same so he could get his stuff. I didn’t lock the inside door, since I was just on a short jog, so Neil walked right into the living room.
Jessica looked at me in shock.
“Ask Marcus if this is legal,” I said, my voice shaking.
I turned and ran inside after Neil. He was carrying one of the clear plastic containers that I’d packed his stuff in, heading down to the basement where we have our biggest guest room.
“Neil!”
He ignored me.
A mild wave of hysteria bubbled inside me. This wasn’t happening.
I paced in the living room, frantically texting the group thread with Gabby and Jessica. Gabby had just got home and saw the cop car pull away from the house. I told her what happened as Neil came back up for another container.
“Neil! Why are you doing this?”
His face had dropped the friendly, placating look he’d reserved for his audience outside. “This is my house. I told you, I want it. I have a better chance at getting it if I reside here. I have every right to do so. If you don’t like it, move.”
He grabbed another bin and went back down.
I watched him go in shock. My chin quivered, and I ran up the steps to my bedroom and slammed the door.
My phone was pinging in quick succession in our group chat. Gabby, Jessica, Gabby, Jessica. And then almost comically, right in the middle of it, Daniel texted.
Daniel: I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed seeing you again.
Jessica texted. According to Marcus it was all legal. There was nothing I could do.
I dropped my phone on the bed and put my face into a pillow and screamed.
Chapter 13
Daniel
She never texted me back.
It had been eight days since the last time I saw her, that morning of Popeye’s fall. I’d sent her another text two days ago. She didn’t reply to that either. I figured two unanswered messages was the max before I started to look desperate, so I left it at that.
I’d taken Popeye to Rochester to see his doctor after his accident. He was fine. I’d gone down to the hardware store while I was there and bought him the railing and tread for his tub. Installed that yesterday. Helped Doug dig a trench. Made a coffee table.
I would have rather seen Alexis.
To say this was a disappointment was an understatement. I thought things between us had gone well.
I guess they hadn’t.
It was seven a.m. and gloomy outside. I was sitting in the four-season porch of the house having a coffee when Amber—Mom—called.
Mom wasn’t really my mom. Not for any practical purposes. She’d had me when she was fifteen. My dad had been a sixteen-year-old tourist whose family had no interest in me. Grandma and Grandpa raised me.
I had only fleeting memories of ever seeing Amber as a kid. She took off as soon as she could drive. We didn’t really have a relationship until after my grandparents died.
They’d left the house to her.
My aunt Andrea, Liz’s mom, and Aunt Justine, my cousin Josh’s mom, didn’t want it. They both lived in South Dakota and had no intention of coming back to Wakan. So my grandparents had left the house to Amber, probably thinking they’d change their will to me when I was old enough, but they’d never gotten around to it. So Amber took all.
I begged her not to sell it. At twenty-three, I hadn’t had the means to buy it. I convinced her to let me run it as a rental, that she’d get a deposit every week, and she could always sell it if it didn’t work out. She’d agreed, and we’d entered into the arrangement that I’d been living under for the last five years.
When she called, she called about money.
“Amber,” I said, answering on the third ring, trying not to sound as moody as I felt.
“Hi, Daniel, it’s Amber.”
I rubbed my forehead tiredly. Sometimes I thought she wasn’t all there.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“So, are you gardening right now?”
“What?”
“What are you doing?”
She was making small talk. That was weird. “I’m just sitting here, in the four-season porch. Why?”
She paused.
“So, I don’t know how to say this without just coming right out and saying it? I’m selling the house.”
I froze. “What? What are you talking about?”
“I’m listing it. Like, today.”
I stood. “Wha—why?”
She was making shuffling noises. She seemed distracted.