about and that it’d be better if we stayed in Brooklyn. “Maybe this is exactly what is supposed to happen right now.”
My heart sank.
“We’ve been struggling,” she continued. “And we’re about to struggle a whole lot more with this rent hike. We’re gonna be paying forty-two hundred a month.”
“Are you serious?” I didn’t realize it would be going up a thousand dollars. I looked around the apartment. It was cute, but not forty-two hundred dollars’ worth of cute, and a rent hike that big sounded illegal but landlords were always doing some shady shit.
“One of your parents will have to sign for you, and I brought duplicates of all the documents,” said Mrs. Redmond. “As soon as you sign, you can go look around.”
“We could go for the summer,” Mo said. “Check it out?”
“Wait,” I said, standing up. “We don’t even know anything about this place. It’s far. And—and it’s in the sticks? In the sticks.”
Mom caught my meaning and immediately came to my side. “She’s right. This is too much. I don’t think—”
“Please,” Mrs. Redmond said gently. She came over and set her hand on my shoulder. “This place belongs to you now. If you don’t take possession, it’ll all go to the county and they’ll do whatever they want with it. Sell it, auction it off to developers.” She looked like the thought bothered her. “I’d hate to see that happen. So many old places end up getting razed for new housing or retailers. The estate is part of Rhinebeck’s history, and it’s away from the incorporated town. You’d have privacy and a chance to explore in peace.”
“Some privacy sounds nice,” said Mo, nodding at me. “I’m sick of knowing exactly what our neighbors are always arguing about. When I see them in the hall, I feel like I gotta pick a side.”
“Who’s going to look after the shop?” Mom asked.
“Jake can do it,” Mo said. “We’ll have to pay him, but I’m sure he’ll do it.”
Mom pinched the bridge of her nose. “We can’t afford to pay him, Angie. I wish we could but we just can’t.”
I looked back and forth between Mom and Mo. Mo’s eyes were lit up and Mom was trying to comfort me, but I could almost see the visions of a big house that was paid for bouncing around in her head. They needed this. We needed this.
“We could pay Jake if we cut back on inventory,” I said.
Mom sighed. “Baby, if we cut our inventory, we won’t make enough to keep—”
I gently squeezed her arm and she stopped, exchanging worried glances with Mo.
They could cut back on what they bought for the shop if I built up our stock, but it’d require me to use my power, which always felt like a gamble. They’d never asked me to produce flowers for the shop, and I’d been too scared to try. If I messed up, it could jeopardize their whole business.
“I—I want to try,” I said.
Mom pulled me into a hug, and we sat on the couch.
“Let’s go over everything line by line,” said Mo. “Like Mom said, this all seems too good to be true. I don’t want to sign on to something crazy.”
“I can stay as long as you need me to,” Mrs. Redmond said happily. “I’d be glad to answer any questions you have.”
Four hours later, after combing through the entire document, asking questions, and taking a break to go downstairs and convince Jake to work in the shop for the summer, Mo signed the documents. Jake agreed to help out on a more regular basis and in exchange we agreed to let him stay in our apartment for the summer so he didn’t have to pay rent to sleep on his friend’s couch.
In the early evening, Mrs. Redmond gathered her things and went to the door. “I’m so glad I got to meet you all.”
“Good meeting you too,” Mo said. “I hope this works out.”
“I’m sure it will,” said Mrs. Redmond. “Remember, call me if you have any additional questions. I’ll be in touch after I’ve filed all the paperwork with the county. The property title will need to be changed in person, but I can walk you through that when the time comes. For now, take a minute to let all of this sink in.”
After she left, we sat in silence for a long time before Mo spoke.
“We’ve got rent covered through the fall. That’s when it goes up, but we don’t have to re-sign the lease.