Boom - Sabrina Stark Page 0,85

was huge and located right on the beach. Soon, the place would have double the bathrooms, a brand-new kitchen, and loads of extra closet space.

With all of the new features, I'd have no trouble at all finding a couple of gals to move in and split expenses.

They could pay me a set monthly amount for rent, and I could use that rent to pay for a big chunk of the mortgage. The rest of it, I could cover on my own.

It wouldn’t even be that hard.

But I was getting ahead of myself, wasn't I?

Until I had an actual job – as opposed to merely an interview – I'd never qualify for a mortgage in the first place, even if Brody did agree to sell.

Reluctantly, I decided to table the house discussion for another time, after I had a job offer in-hand. Until that point, Brody and I would only be arguing for nothing.

But there was something I could get answers on. "So about your grandparents," I said, "you never did tell me. Why didn't you ever get to know them?"

With no trace of a smile, he said, "Trust me. You don't want to know."

Judging from the tone of his voice, he wasn't any happier with this subject than the last one. Or maybe he was still irritated about the house.

Buy hey, I was getting irritated, too. And my question was perfectly reasonable. Brody and I had been together for months now. Maybe it wasn't a huge amount of time, but it was certainly long enough to justify asking basic questions about his family.

I said, "But I do want to know. I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

"Alright," he said, not sounding too happy about it. "You wanna know why? It's because my parents were fuck-ups."

"Oh." Now, I hardly knew what to say. From watching the TV show, I already knew that both of his parents had died in separate accidents sometime within the last few years – his dad in a car crash and his mom in a house fire.

At the time, both of them had been living in different states – away from their children and from each other.

Brody never wanted to talk about it, and I could totally see why. But until just now, I hadn't realized that Brody harbored such hard feelings for them.

After a long moment, I said, "How so?"

"Let's just say, family wasn't important to them."

"But what about your grandparents?"

"Dead."

I winced. "All of them?"

His voice was quiet. "Yup."

"Gosh, I'm really sorry."

"Don't be. Like I said, I never knew them, so…" His words trailed off into silence – the kind that didn't welcome further discussion.

Still, I persisted, "So you're saying you never met them at all?"

"Never," he confirmed. "So hey, they could be fuck-ups, too, for all I know."

The more he talked, the less I liked what I was hearing. Did he seriously just call his dead grandparents fuck-ups?

And earlier, his parents, too?

I felt my eyebrows furrow. It was true that I had plenty of issues with my own parents, but I still loved them, even in spite of their flaws.

And, as far as Brody's grandparents, his pronouncement seemed terribly unfair.

Hoping to get him thinking, I said, "But about your grandparents, if you've never met them, how can you truly know anything?"

"I don't." His voice hardened. "And that's the point."

"I know," I said. "But I'm just saying, maybe they were wonderful people."

With a low scoff, he said, "And you think that's better?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe."

"Well it's not," he said.

"Why?"

With a new edge in his voice, he replied, "Because the way I see it, I'm better off if they weren't worth knowing."

I still didn't get it. "But why?"

"Because then I wasn't missing anything."

Finally, I saw what he meant. Still, the whole thing made me feel strange and sad – and even sadder when Brody announced, "I'm gonna head out, alright?"

I felt my brow wrinkle in confusion. "Head out? What do you mean?"

"I’m gonna head back to my own room, maybe get some sleep."

Maybe get some sleep? I hesitated. "Oh. Okay."

He'd never done such a thing before. Normally, he stayed until just before sunrise, and left with obvious regret.

With no sign of regret now, he said, "And about the house. I meant what I said. Drop it, alright?"

Drop it?

Like it was so easy.

I refused to lie. "I can't promise you that."

"Yeah, well that makes two of us."

I wasn't even sure what he meant. But judging from his tone, it wasn't anything good.

Before I could even think of something