Page 101 of To Belong Together
Roy shrugged. “No offense. Just thinking. He was good at his job. A good guy. It was hard to watch.”
Roy hadn’t watched. Her cousins had rarely visited Dad.
And yet, why attack him? “I’m glad it wasn’t up to us.”
The melody of her phone interrupted before the conversation got any worse.
As he wandered off, she grabbed her cell. “Hi, Nina.”
“Erin. I’m sorry I took so long to call you back. Is now an okay time?”
“Sure.” She wiped her forearm across her face. Selling her house meant helping Mom. If anything would apply healing balm to the trauma, providing for family would.
“Okay. How are you doing, sweetheart?”
Immediately, she choked up. After desperately swallowing, she cleared her throat. “I’m back at work today.”
“Okay. Okay.” Either Nina was multi-tasking or strategizing. “Look. I wanted to be sure you considered whether this is the best time for a major decision like listing your home.”
“It has to be now. Mom’s behind on her mortgage. I want to sell to catch her up. If I don’t list it now, I don’t have a chance of getting my equity out before the bank moves forward with Mom’s foreclosure.”
Nina tsked sympathetically. “I didn’t realize. Aw, I’m sorry to hear that. How much do you need to get out of your home?”
Erin related how much Mom owed and how much she needed.
“All things considered then …” Nina must’ve been tapping numbers into a calculator because a moment later, she supplied a dollar amount. “That’s more than you bought it for, but the price isn’t impossible, given the market. I think we can make this work, if you’re sure.”
Warmth flared through Erin at the sound of an incoming text. John, she’d bet.
She resisted reading the message. “It has to be now.”
“Then I’ll get the paperwork ready. You could swing by the office tomorrow and get everything signed.”
The following day was Saturday, and Erin wasn’t officially on the schedule. However, since she needed the money and her absence had resulted in a backlog of repairs, she planned to put in a few more hours in the morning. Hopefully her cousins would see that as helpful rather than an encroachment. She could leave at lunch, before she overstayed her welcome, help Mom with some things, and go see Nina.
Erin agreed to the meeting, then disconnected to check her texts.
Are your cousins behaving themselves?John had asked.
Mostly,she replied.And your coworkers? Need me to teach someone a lesson by disabling their car?
A minute later, her phone pinged with a number.
What’s this?she asked.
The passcode to Gannon’s. Have fun.
She snickered and returned the phone to her workbench, then glanced back at it. Was the code real? She’d heard Gannon’s house had security guards, but maybe not all the time. Or perhaps that had been a rumor, start to finish.
She refocused on the vehicle on her hoist.
Right. Oil change.
Dad was gone.
She had to sell her house.
If only John could distract her from reality forever.
