Meant to Be Immortal (Argeneau #32) - Lynsay Sands Page 0,116

the bags so you can unlock the door?” Mac asked as CJ stopped on her front step.

“No. I’m good,” she assured him, and began punching numbers into the digital lock. It was new and really handy at times like this. No matter how bogged down you were with bags, you could usually get one finger or knuckle free to push buttons. The lock hummed as the dead bolt retreated into the door, and CJ managed to work the doorknob despite everything she was carrying and led the way into her home.

“Nice,” Mac murmured as he followed her through the foyer into the living room.

“Thanks. I renovated it last year. I like the results,” she admitted as she dropped her bags and peered around the large room. It was decorated in warm earth tones, with overstuffed comfy furniture and large windows overlooking the backyard.

“You got the house in the divorce, then?” Mac asked. “Or did you buy it after?”

“Neither,” she said with a wry smile. “This was my parents’ home. Marge and Johnathan Cummings,” she added solemnly. “They left it to me along with the cottage. But since I had to go live with Mrs. Miller, Uncle Ernie, Ernie Cowessess, my father’s partner, arranged to rent it to a nice couple with kids. I considered moving in after police college, but the couple living here had been in residence so long I didn’t want to just kick them out. Besides, I worked in a station downtown after graduation, so I rented an apartment in the city instead. The rent here more than paid for my apartment.”

Mac nodded as he set down the bags he was carrying. He then crossed to the dining room at the end of the large living area to look into the kitchen. A soft whistle slid from his lips as he took in the white cupboards, dark granite-topped counters and island. “Nice job decorating.”

“Thank you,” CJ said, pleased at the compliment. She’d agonized over every little thing she’d had done, so it was nice to know she wasn’t the only one who liked it.

“When did you move back in?” Mac asked, returning to her side.

“A little over a year ago,” she admitted. “The Eastbrooks—they were the family who rented the house for something like twenty-one years,” she explained, “their kids were grown up and had moved out, so they decided to move to an apartment since it was just the two of them. I kept my apartment while this place was renovated and moved back in last June, so a year and three months ago.”

Mac hesitated, but then asked, “If you had this house, why were you and your ex-husband saving to buy another one? Why not just move in here?”

“Like I said, the Eastbrooks had lived here a long time. I didn’t want to just kick them out,” she repeated, but acknowledged to herself that it was only part of the truth, and admitted, “Besides, even after so many years had passed, this place was . . . It made me sad to be here. I was so happy here with my parents until I found those papers in the attic. I didn’t really want to live in the home where I’d been so happy with them. It would have been a daily reminder of what I’d lost,” she admitted.

“But you didn’t want to sell it either and give up your last connection to them,” he guessed.

CJ nodded slowly, impressed that he’d worked that out. He really got her, she thought. “No, I didn’t want to give it up. I guess that’s why I never told Billy that I owned it. He would have suggested living here, or selling and buying somewhere else, and I didn’t want to do either.”

“He never knew about this place?” Mac asked with surprise.

“Not while we were together, but I had to put it in the financials for the divorce,” she admitted with a grimace. “I half expected him to freak out when he saw that I’d owned a house all that time, but he didn’t. Actually, I’m not even sure if he read the financials. He just signed the papers and walked away.”

“So, he never even saw the house?” Mac asked, looking around the room.

“No,” CJ admitted.

“And you moved back here, after all? It doesn’t make you sad to be here?” he asked with concern.

CJ smiled faintly. “No. I thought it would, but after losing the baby and the divorce and everything, it felt kind of comforting to be here.