Page 54 of My One
“No, he did.”
“Oh?”
“He left everything to my mom, and since they died together, it transferred to me.”
“I bet he’s kicking himself now.”
“Probably,” I agreed and smiled. I actually smiled at the thought of my father down in hell, angry and pissed that I’d won. It had never been a competition, but knowing I was getting everything he never wanted me to have made me feel good. He deserved it for keeping my mother away from me.
“But don’t you need time to deal with all their stuff and the house and shit?”
“I was thinking of just coming back home for a few weeks and then flying back out here and dealing with it. Nic needs to return to work.”
“Whatever you need to do, you know I have your back.”
“Thanks.” I nodded to myself. “Nic and I are staying here tonight.”
“At their house?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s it like?”
“White.”
“White?”
“Everything inside is white: furniture, walls, cabinets. I’ve yet to go upstairs, but I’m sure that’s all white too.”
“Weird. Is it close to the beach?”
I looked over to where the view of the ocean was. “No, but you can see it from their backyard.”
“Nice.” We were silent for a beat, then Easton spoke again. “Hopefully your dad doesn’t haunt you tonight.”
I chuckled and rolled my eyes. “He probably will. Nic said there are three guest rooms, so we’re staying in one of those until Sunday. Hopefullynotsleeping in his bed won’t piss him off more.” I couldn’t believe we were talking as though my dad was still here. Maybe he was and his spirit hadn’t crossed over yet. If he did haunt me tonight, I’d give him a piece of my mind for keeping my mother from me.
“Yeah, let’s hope,” Easton agreed. “I gotta run now though. Need to get home—”
“Yeah.” I stood. “I’ll call you Sunday when I get in.”
“Yeah. Cool.”
We said our goodbyes, and instead of trying to figure out how to play bocce ball by myself, I went upstairs, figuring it was time if I was going to be sleeping there. Nic was still stripping all the beds. I went to help her but stopped when I saw the door to what looked like my father’s office opened.
Numerous books lined a bookshelf wall behind his desk, and all of them were medical related. There was a picture of my mother from when she was younger on his glass desk, and it struck me that it was the only picture I’d seen in the entire house. I stared at it. She looked joyful as she smiled back at whoever was taking the picture. Was it my father? A friend? I didn’t know how old she was in the photo, but she looked cheerful, and that made me feel a little better to know that at some point she’d been happy.
I just wished I had known herthen.
Sleeping in Avery’s parents’ house was weird. I woke up multiple times during the night scared I would see them standing in the corner watching us. Of course, we didn’t sleep in their room, but still. Avery didn’t sleep much either, and the entire night we were glued to each other as if a monster might crawl out from under the bed.
In the morning, we went to breakfast and then back to Edna’s to see if the Scotts had any more friends and to let her know we were having the viewing Saturday afternoon. She opened the door, and Avery held a latte from Starbucks for her. “We brought you coffee.”
Edna smiled and took the hot coffee. “Thank you. This is sweet of you two.”
“We came to give you an update,” I advised her.
“Please come in.” She motioned for us to enter and we went to the kitchen table again. “I was wondering what’s been happening, but I wanted to let you two have some time to grieve.”
