Page 86 of A Heart So Haunted
A dry, deadly heat.
I cleared my throat. “Thank you. Aunt Cadence kept up with it well.”
He licked his bottom lip. “That she did.”
Even the skin around his jaw shined. He’d probably oiled his face before he’d gotten out of the truck.
“I read through the packet, but I wanted to go over it in person.” I slipped through the door first, careful to not keep my back turned to him for long. He ambled in, eyes fondling the archways, the hall, the wide floorboards. He touched the office doorframe, mouth slightly parted.
“Cherry?”
I nodded. I hated to admit it, but Eleanora hadn’t noted such a small detail.
I let my wall inch down. If only a little. It almost felt normal, talking to him like this. It reminded me of the times—the goodtimes, though few—we’d had together. The times he’d visited me at Meredith’s when I was hiding from Mom. How he’d taken me to a haunted house, religiously, each Halloween. How he had always tapped me on the shoulder three times before whispering over the desk in class, “Have you finished yet?”
I stared at his hands. The strong but slender fingers, the lack of blemishes on his palms. I remembered how they felt, covering my own hand, as he showed me how to shift a manual in the middle of a backroad. How he’d said we couldn’t go home until I drove us to my mom’s apartment. How I hadn’t wanted to disappoint him.
A tendril of that same feeling—expectancy, almost—fluttered inside my chest when he met my gaze.
“I have my notes from before,” he said while removing a pen from his shirt pocket. He tucked it behind his ear and nodded down the hallway. “The dining room is fine.”
Cautious, I nodded. Maybe this would be quicker than I thought.
My phone buzzed again. A third time. Ivan led the way and I followed, but about halfway there I slipped my phone out of my pocket, just to make sure it wasn’t important.
Three texts from my mother.
MOM:Why didn’t you tell me?
MOM:Emma knew. You two have been conspiring. That’s why you won’t talk to me.
The last one stopped me in my tracks.
MOM:Care to explain why Penny left your father?
Thinking bubbles appeared. I watched the new message blink onto the screen:
MOM:Are you home now? Where are you?
I stopped in my tracks. The world tilted on its axis. This couldn’t be true. Emma and I had joked about it growing up, sure—but neither of us had expected Penny to leave Vince. She’d always denied the affairs, no matter how obvious they were. Had she finally gotten sick of the cheating, or was it something else?
The tiniest of thoughts came in that moment. Is that why Emma was gone? Was itreallybecause of work, or was that a lie? I hadn’t been honest with her about everything. The thought that she’d known, or at least had a feeling, and hadn’t told me stung.
But if she had—when had I done any better about being open? If Penny left Dad, would Emma have to help her mom move out?
Either way, it would need to wait. I reeled in my thoughts, silenced my phone, and floated into the dining room.
Ivan already had the paperwork sorted at the head of the table by the time I pulled a chair out. The front page explained the usual—a promise for how long the house would be listed with his group, the commission rate, a marketing plan, a portfolio of the similar homes they’d sold before, and a company information section.
Before he flipped to the following page, he scooted his chair closer to mine.
“I understand you’ve already got the financials settled? The deed is in your name?” One eyebrow arched. He licked his lips while watching me.
“The house was in a trust. A new deed was issued already.” My mouth turned sour. Aunt Cadence had a trust made years ago, which she’d documented with a lawyer, while also planting me as her estate executor. Every last ounce: in my lap.
“Good, good,” he said under his breath. I eyed the distance from his elbow to mine. How his leg inclined toward me. I edged the other way.
“Everything on the financial side is settled,” I said simply. “Don’t worry about it.”
