me if you want it. If you don’t, I’m calling a real estate agent.”
“I want it,” Maryann snapped. “But there’s no way I can afford it, and I can’t move to Laurelsburg.”
“Then what’s the point of keeping it? You want me to keep living here and stay tethered to it just because you’re sentimental about it, but you won’t actually be here?”
She pushed out an exasperated breath. “Can’t you just move someplace else and leave the house? Do you have to sell it?” Her eyes narrowed. “God knows Dad left you with enough money to live on.”
I sighed. “I don’t want to be attached to it. I need it gone.”
She stared at me for a moment. Then she shook her head. “Fine. You know what? Fine. If you don’t want to keep it, then do whatever you have to do.” And with that, she disappeared from the Zoom meeting.
“Dad left it to you,” Lisa growled. “Apparently he overestimated how much you gave a fuck about this family.” Then she too was gone.
Daniel and I sat in silence for a moment.
“I’m not doing this to hurt any of you,” I said quietly. “I just need to—”
He disappeared too.
I stared at the screen for a moment, nothing but my own face staring back at me.
With a heavy sigh, I closed the window and put my laptop aside on the couch. Then I got up and shuffled toward the kitchen. I wasn’t particularly hungry or thirsty, but pouring myself a drink was something to do. And alcohol didn’t sound too bad.
I got as far as mixing some vodka in with some orange juice, but didn’t feel like drinking it. Leaning against the kitchen island, I pressed my untouched drink against my forehead.
What the hell did I do now? I needed to put the place on the market for the sake of my own sanity, but what about my family? I didn’t know if they’d ever forgive me for this. What else could I do, though? This place was full of cherished memories for my siblings, but for me, it was a crypt haunted by everything I could never live up to.
It wasn’t just that, though. My father’s disapproval permeated every inch of this place, but Aaron and Will had been here too. They’d been here, and now they were gone, and Jesus—nothing drove home how gone they were like sitting here alone in this gigantic haunted house.
Oh yeah. It was definitely time to unload the house and start fresh someplace else.
I took a deep swallow from my drink, paused to grimace at the intense burn, and then pulled out my phone, opened up my browser, and typed two words into the search engine:
Laurelsburg Realtors.
Then I hit that Search button hard enough I almost broke the screen.
In a matter of minutes, I’d fired off emails to some possible real estate agents.
There. It was a tiny baby step, but it was a step.
I exhaled into the silence. Just knowing I was about to get the ball rolling was a big relief, but did I feel good? Not even close. Better about the house? Yes. Better in general? No. Because this enormous house wasn’t just echoing with my father’s disapproval anymore. Now the cavernous rooms and soaring ceilings resonated with ear-ringing emptiness.
Maybe that was why my dad had jammed it full of stuff—to fill up the space so he could pretend it wasn’t as hollow as it was. It didn’t fool me, though. I could feel it in my bones, and there was no way in hell I could stay here and stay sane.
Should I stay here now, though? Tonight? I mean I was selling the place, but what about, like, tonight? There were hotels in town. Probably some inexpensive ones. I could crash there and just…not be here.
But…no. I’d spent too many years barely staying afloat to be okay with renting a hotel room indefinitely while I had a perfectly good—if demon-infested—house. One night, though? Would that be too much? Could I justify giving myself a break and—
The doorbell rang.
My head snapped toward the front hallway. What the hell? None of my siblings lived close enough to show up on a moment’s notice. Not even if my brother still drove like a bat out of hell.
I pulled up the Ring app and checked the camera, and the instant I saw the feed from the front porch, I dropped my phone on the counter and bolted for the front door.