if she were waiting for a response she knew would never come. “I don’t know how long I’ll be in Mimosa, but I’ll come back again. I’ll bring flowers next time.”
Blinking against the glare of the headlights, Pam made her way back to the car. Flowers would help alleviate the grimness of the stark, simple stone. Mae Danvers Wilson, Mother and Sister. If Pam had somehow killed herself during the worst of her drinking, she wouldn’t even have had that much to claim. She’d never had a sister and she’d completely forfeited her right to be a mother. Still, she thanked God that she’d realized something was unnaturally wrong with her in time, that she hadn’t stuck around to damage her own daughter. She wanted Faith to grow up secure in Nick’s love and the adoration of all the Shepards; she never wanted her daughter to be the one standing in a dark cemetery with decades worth of bad memories and self-doubt.
“STRUCTURALLY SOUND, but needs a lot of work. And a lot of love.”
Pam slanted Ed a sidelong glance. Is he talking about the house or me? As a guest in her aunt and uncle’s home for the last couple of days, she’d realized there was a lot more to the man than she’d guessed. As a teen, she’d viewed him as the henpecked, somewhat simpleminded husband of an overbearing woman. But this week she’d witnessed the subtle affection between the couple. Also, she’d learned that while Uncle Ed didn’t talk much, his words often carried more than their superficial meaning.
The man was eerily insightful. She suspected that when she’d said she was going out for a drive to see how the town had changed, he’d somehow known she was going to an AA meeting at a nearby church. Pam had been slow to broach the subject with them because Julia was still so obviously upset by her late sister’s drinking and alcohol-related death.
Ed turned off the car. “Your inheritance awaits.”
They’d met with the attorney this morning, and Pam was the proud owner of one forlorn, neglected house. Last week, all I had to my name was the car, and now I’m a regular land baron. Oh, yeah, things were looking up.
Uncle Ed had discreetly handed her a check for “miscellaneous” costs, like taxes, realty fees and maintenance. But from where she stood, this place needed more than “miscellaneous” repair.
“That additional money you gave me wasn’t from Mae,” she said as they exited the car. “You tried to make it sound that way, as if you were just holding it in trust for me as executors of the ‘estate.’ But there’s no way she had that much.”
“The money’s for you, from family who want to help. Who would have been helping all along if we’d had the opportunity. Don’t worry, our savings are in good shape.” He shook his head. “I had no idea how well your aunt was going to do with her jewelry-making and craft shows.”
“I appreciate the help,” Pam said softly. It would have been less humbling to turn the check down, but she’d learned the value of accepting assistance.
“It’s up to you, of course, how you spend it. You could try to buy a listing for the property and sell the place as-is … or you could invest some time and cash and ask a much better price. Isn’t that what they call ‘flipping’ a house?”
“Mmm.” She didn’t know much about house-flipping, but she was pretty sure no one who was good at it would have picked this particular home. It didn’t offer some of the amenities that were considered standard on newer houses—like a garage—and it wasn’t part of a neighborhood where it could be buoyed by adjacent property values. But she was basing her low expectations on a cursory inspection of the house’s exterior. The inside might be more promising.
Then again. A few minutes later, Pam stood in the kitchen, reevaluating. The inside sucked.
“It could be worse,” Uncle Ed said from behind her.
“Oh, there’s a ringing endorsement. I think that’s how the property listing should read.” Although now that she thought about it, the house might not even qualify for a listing. Didn’t houses have to pass certain minimal inspections before they could legally be sold? She didn’t think the walls were full of asbestos, but it was apparent from the damaged patches in the ceiling that the roof needed work. There were definite plumbing issues, too, from the minor problem that faucets caked