Page 2 of By The Book
Yeah, three. Before her mom’s death and Tommy’s growth spurt.
In the year since Scott’s accident, the days had started to blur together in a rush of busy-ness, stress, and the numbness of grief. Losing Scott so soon after losing her mother…
She hadn’t meant to ignore her father these last two years, but given the distance and her own inability to cope, plus Tommy, her job, and just trying to keep her head above water long enough to take a breath, she was sure her father felt that way.
And probably angrier because of it.
Claire carried the frame to her computer bag and carefully tucked it inside to take with her.
That done, she turned to run through that checklist again. Scott’s death benefits had allowed her to pay down a lot of their debt but not all, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t panicking now due to her job loss.
She’d loved her husband with every fiber of her being, but he sucked when it came to money and self-gratification. Things that should’ve been done—paid—weren’t. Like the life insurance she thought was being carried through the military that had been cancelled without her being aware.
Being a single mom while Scott was deployed, working, and handling things at home meant sometimes things slipped by her.
But it was the over-the-top extras that got them. Scott liked big, expensive toys like boats and trucks and Harleys, and he’d constantly rolled from one model into a bigger, supposedly better one. That meant when the time had come to sell the toys, she hadn’t been able to get anywhere near the amounts financed on them.
Then there were the homes they’d purchased because Scott didn’t like living on base. They’d racked up some serious craziness when it was time to pack up and move again. They got a housing stipend, but it took time to sell homes, and money.
Before moving to Virginia, they’d had trouble selling two of the homes they’d purchased during previous moves, and they’d carried mortgages and rental expenses until they’d been able to unload them both at losses.
Because of the heavy debt, the benefits she’d received hadn’t been enough to cover everything. She still had a mortgage on their current house, but it had built up quite a bit of equity as the real estate prices in the area had soared in the last year or so.
Her biggest regret in light of Tommy’s nefarious activities was that maybe she should’ve taken more time off of work after Scott’s passing. But with Tommy back in school during the day and their monthly bills still to pay, the thought of wandering the house with nothing to occupy her mind left her desperate for the hours she’d spent at her job.
Now she was income-less due to cutbacks, Tommy was acting out worse by the day, and her last phone call with her father in Carolina Cove had been sad.
They’d sat there in silence, phones to their ears, nothing to say once the how are yous were out of the way.
That wasn’t the way things should be. She knew enough to know that.
He’d seemed lonely, talked only about work, and she hated that it had been so long since their last visit, even though her mother had been the glue that kept them speaking.
A door slammed in the hallway behind her, and she turned to find Tommy trudging toward her with a duffle, two backpacks, his gym bag, and tote with wires dragging behind. “You went into my closet? No video games is part of your punishment.”
“I want to take them if we’re there longer than you think.”
“Tommy…you broke into the school and vandalized it. They were talking about prosecuting all of you. You got off easy just having to do cleanup.”
“I know. I won’t play them. I’m taking them just in case.”
“Fine. We’ll pack thembutI keep them with me in my room.”
“Whatever.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Do Ihave to—”
“Yes,” she said, quickly moving to open the door. “Do I need to check your room?”
“No. I cleaned it up.”
“Thank you. Here we go.” Any beach items they’d need would be in her father’s garage. Chairs, bodyboards, surfboards, etc.
She grabbed the last of her stuff to be loaded and wondered how minimalists did it. Because truth be told, Tommy got his packing skills from her. Had they actually had to pack beach items, she would’ve needed a van. Or the truck she’d sold a month after Scott’s passing when the almost-thousand-dollar-a-month payment had come due.
While Tommy put the last of their belongings in the Wrangler, she returned to the house to make sure nothing had been left behind—as well as take a quick look in Tommy’s room—before locking up and climbing behind the wheel.
