Page 120 of A Heart So Haunted
Sayer started taking his gloves off, but didn’t come closer. A car whispered by.
“I assumed another lawyer might do, yes, unless you want me to handle your affairs?” he assumed. As if he wanted me to admit I didn’t want him, when it was he that never wanted me. The thought soured as soon as it appeared.
“It would be a conflict of interest.” I straightened, feeling the drying sweat along the waistband of my shorts, only for it to be melted by a new rush of heat. I didn’t want to say it. But I didn’t know legal ramifications like my father did.
He’d never exploited her. He’d never gossiped about her. He’d disrespected her and their marriage, he’d left me behind, but he’d never once denied the alimony she’d requested. His only downfall was abandonment.
He was my father. Not a good father, but my father. A father that knew law.
“Is something wrong?” I heard him sit up. The plastic click of a pen being set atop a table. Then the snick of a laptop being shut.
“You know Aunt Cadence died.” I inhaled through my nose.
He swallowed. Deadpan, he said, “Yes.”
I ignored that needle of pain, the affirmation that he’d never once called to offer condolences.Focus.“Have you spoken to Mom since she died?”
“I haven’t spoken to anyone, Landry.”
“She left everything to me. The house. The trusts. Life insurance money. All of it.” I blinked away a sudden burn of tears.
Silence.
Sayer paused on the front step. Concern laced every inch of his face.
I leaned against the tree and let my head fall back against its trunk. “Mom is pissed. She showed up a few days ago and says I’m keeping things from her. I’d planned on selling the house but—”
I don’t know what’s best.
I don’t know what I should do.
Help me.
“I don’t know where to go from here,” I said, flat. I walked away from the tree, closer to the edge of the property. It butted up against a fence of bramble and ivy, tangled over an old wire fence that looked nearly completely camouflaged by the foliage. Somewhere, miles up the street, another house stood. I wondered if they could hear my voice travel on the wind.
“I see.” More rustling, like a harsh palm running over beard stubble. “So she came to you because she was upset you were selling things?”
I squeezed the bridge of my nose. He needed to know, whether or not anything would come of it. “And she heard that you and Penny split up.”
A long, heavy breath. “God.”
“She wanted me to get in touch with you.”
He cursed, low. “Did shenow.” It wasn’t even a question.
“She’s out of money. She’s looking for a place to stay. She said she could stay with me while I get in contact with you.” And the Airbnb I set her up with, which was due to end soon.
He gave a brittle, viperous laugh. “Didshe.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. It was like he heard it, because he went on, “Tell her she has no room at my house. She can figure it out on her own.”
A spark of anger. “So what am I supposed to do about her? She’s been circling and I know she wants to go through Cadence’s things and—”
“Why not let her?”
“Because they aren’t her things, Dad. They’re mine. Aunt Cadence left them for me.” I hated how much of a child I sounded in the moment. “What do I do?”
“Landry. Listen. Your mother is going to get something whether you like it or not.”
