“What did you do?”
“We let her do what was right for her.”
“And what about what was right for us?”
Bernie sat in a chair on the porch. “I live here. Most of my kids are here. I don’t need a cottage at the beach. And when’s the last time you came for the whole summer? Ten years ago? More?”
“I was here last year!”
“For a week,” Margaret said gently. “It wasn’t fair to ask her to keep a house so you could spend a week here and there. And I don’t want it anymore.”
“If it was fifteen years ago, I would have bought it with you,” Bernie said. “And we could have kept living out the old days. But it’s not. And I don’t want to burden my kids with that when I go.”
“Why didn’t you ask me? I could have pulled the money together.”
“Because we knew you would hound her, and she needed to sell it. She’s had a rough go since Sam died.”
Evelyn looked at her brother sitting in a wooden rocking chair and realized the next time she came to Hereford could be for his funeral. That might be the last time too, with only the few nieces and nephews who remained and the cottage gone. And while she could and would bear a grudge against Louise, she decided not to hold one against her only remaining siblings.
“Okay.”
Bernie looked at her askance. “What are you planning now?”
“Nothing. You win.”
Margaret placed the back of her hand against her sister’s forehead, and Evelyn swatted it away. “She’s not warm. She’s up to something.”
“I’ve mellowed in my old age.”
As her siblings disputed that assertion, a car parked across the street. The door opened, and out stepped a man with graying hair.
Bernie saw him first and began to laugh, a big belly laugh that ended in a fit of wheezing, the souvenir of a lifetime of smoking. “Chief Delgado,” he said as the man walked up the steps. “Perfect timing.”
Tony stopped in front of the three on the porch. “Bernie. Margaret. Evelyn. My deepest sympathies.”
“Go on in,” Bernie said. “Half the town is already here. We’ll be in directly.”
Tony paused a moment, meeting Evelyn’s eye. She offered a half smile, which he returned with a nod before entering the house.
“Mellowed, my foot,” Bernie said.
“Hush.” Evelyn ruffled the little bit of hair he had left, then went in the house.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
My mother wanted to know everything about the trip, but by the time I got back from bringing my grandmother home, carrying her bags in, and helping her to unpack, I was exhausted. I mumbled something about it being great and started up the stairs.
“Was she okay? Did she take her pills? How crazy did she drive you?”
I turned around on the third step. “She—” I stopped for a second. “She’s something else.”
She started to ask another question, but I couldn’t rehash the whole trip right then. “Mom, I need some sleep. I’ll give you details tomorrow, I promise.” I took two more steps, then stopped again. “You should go back sometime. Sofia wants to see you.”
“You met Sofia?”
I smiled at her. “I met everyone.”
I slept fourteen hours, texted Joe good morning, and took a shower. Then I sat at the desk where I did my homework as a teenager and pulled out the envelope I had been avoiding for the last few weeks. I signed my name at the Post-it arrows, then slid the documents back inside before going downstairs, the manilla envelope under my arm.
“Jenna?” my mom called from the kitchen.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Can I make you some breakfast?” I smiled. She hadn’t offered me breakfast since the first week I was home. She must have missed me.
“I’ll just have some coffee and cereal.”
“I don’t mind.”
“It’s okay. I need to go drop this off.”
She looked at the package under my arm. “Is that—？” I nodded, and she looked at me in wonder. “What happened in Hereford?”
I set the envelope on the counter and went to the coffee machine. “A lot.” As the coffee brewed, I turned to face her. “I’m going to start looking at apartment listings today too. You were right. I need to get out.”
“I didn’t mean—”
I wrapped my arms around her. “I know, Mom. But sometimes you’ve just got to say you’re not going to let fear win and then jump.”