Page 219 of Share with Me

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Brinley steppedup to the porch and crossed the floorboards. “No more creaks. Great!”

She was about to ring the doorbell when the door flung open. And there he was. All smiles. Brinley knew he wasn’t like his brother, Quincy, rushing to Zoe, lifting her off her feet, spinning her around, and kissing her until she passed out.

Nope.

Ivan simply stood there. He reached for her hand, gently held it, and tugged her toward him. All slow and quiet-like.

“How’s the wrist?” Brinley asked. She always asked, even if she had asked a few hours before when she called to see if she could come over this beautiful Saturday morning. He said he had to work at the thrift shop from noon to nine, but she could come over before he left the house.

“It’s healing.”

Brinley felt Ivan had more to say, but didn’t. She wanted the details. How was it healing? What did the doctor say? What did the therapist do?

“I go back to the doctor on Tuesday.” It was all Ivan offered.

“Good. I’ll keep praying.”

“Thank you.” Ivan didn’t let go. “Why are you sad? I’m not dying.”

“Helen Hu still can’t find your mother. We may never find her.”

“Trust God, Brin. My mother will come home when she’s ready. If she’s not ready, no one can make her. So all we can do is pray.” Ivan rubbed her chin. “Now cheer up. Come see the house.”

Brinley stepped over the threshold and looked around. “Wow. This whole place is still empty.”

“Not all empty.” Ivan pointed toward the living room. “I have chairs now. Two bucks each.”

“What a deal.” Brinley stared at the flimsy plastic folding chairs.Well, chairs are chairs.

“Yeah. And I found two barstools—slightly scratched, but who cares, right?—for the kitchen island. One for you and one for me.”

Thoughtful.Brinley smiled as Ivan led her to the covered porch outside the living room.

“Grandma would’ve loved this space,” Ivan said.

“I tried to remember what she wanted.” And she did try. Every detail of her conversations with Yun as much as she could remember when she discussed the renovation and expansion of the property with Tobias Vega.

“This is exactly what she’d been talking about for years.”

“Do you think she can see this from heaven?” Brinley asked.

“I don’t know. If she’s in the crowd of witnesses, maybe?”

“Maybe.” Brinley leaned against Ivan, breathing in the coastal April breeze. To her left the live oak grove swayed in the bright sun rising up into the sky. To her right the driveway meandered toward the road. In front of her was green grass leading to the marshes, where herons and egrets flew in and out.

Ivan kissed her forehead. “I’m so glad you gave me a second chance with this house.”

Brinley shrugged. “It was empty, anyway.”

“Oh, and here I was thinking you saved it for me.”

“That too.” Brinley spotted a railing with a missed paint spot, but she decided to worry about it later. Tobias needed a break from her pushing him to get this house renovated. This house had been a mess with its cracked foundation, but it had all been taken care of. And she had rewarded Tobias’s hard work with the warehouse project. No complaints from the general contractor.

“Let’s sit out here a while?” Ivan asked. “I’ll go get the folding chairs.”

Just then the doorbell rang.

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