Page 86 of That Reilly Boy
I can never be sure when it comes to my mother, but I think there’s a good chance once this house is in her rearview mirror and she has a cute little home of her own, the last thing she’s going to want to do is fill it with all this stuff.
“You won’t throw anything away without asking me first?”
I rest my hand on her knee. “I promise. Once everything’s settled, maybe we can have one or two nights a week where we do a set amount of time of going through stuff, and then we have dinner together.”
She brightens. “That sounds doable.”
“See? Now, how about I loop Hayden in, and he can get his real estate person to make the offer for you and set up the closings so the money for this house pays for that house, and the leftover will make a nice nest egg for you.”
I’m not surprised when she nods instead of saying anything about some of the egg coming my way. That’s just not how her mind works, plus she probably assumes I’m all set because I married a man with money. She doesn’t know that’s temporary, and I don’t want to think too hard about whether that would make a difference or not.
“Let’s get up off this cement floor,” I say, pushing myself to my feet. When she groans, I put out my hands and pull her up.
She brushes off her pants. “I’ll go text Sherry and get the contact info for the agent.”
“That sounds good.” Instead of heading into the house—my mother always leaves her cell phone on the kitchen counter, as if it’s a landline—she’s still for a long moment. “You okay, Mom?”
When she faces me, her lips curve into a smile. “I’m terrified, Cara. But I think I’m a little excited, too.”
For a moment, all of the resentment and hopelessness of the last few years fades, and I think about how trapped my mother must have felt. Trapped by her promise to her husband, her sense of obligation—misguided as it was—to her daughter, and fear of learning a new way to live her life.
“I’m excited for you, Mom. You’re going to have so much fun living in that neighborhood. And it’s not only Sherry. You know more than half the people who live there. And you won’t have to worry about anything.”
Once she’s gone into the house, I strip out of my work clothes and pull on clean shorts and a tank top. A full load has accumulated, so I start the washer before pulling out my phone to text Hayden.
CARA
The good news: Mom’s ready to make an offer on a house near Sherry. The bad news: She’ll be coming back one or two nights a week to go through all this junk, which might take four or five years.
HAYDEN
Even better news: She lets me hire somebody to haul it all away?
CARA
Worst news: She specifically made me promise I wouldn’t let you do that. Circle back to the good news.
HAYDEN
The best news: You’re almost free.
It’s unclear to me if he means I’m almost free of the house or almost free of him. Or maybe he means both.
Of course I should be happy about both. Especially since it means I’ll be free to do whatever I want, within reason. But, even though I’m genuinely excited for my mother, my happiness bubble loses some of its shine as I go into the house to figure out what we’re making for supper.
While I would never admit it to anybody—not even Mel, or maybe especially not Mel—I like being Hayden’s wife. And even though our marriage isn’t real, the divorce will be.
I knew this plan was a bad idea.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Hayden
It takes another two weeks to line everything up. My team had done as much of the prep work as possible, and they kept on top of the people handling Gin’s purchase. It’s fast, but that’s what I expect from my people. I want it done.
Not just because I want to own the Gamble house, but because Cara had told me it might be easier on Gin—and therefore her—if I made myself scarce while they tried to gather what her mother would need for the initial move. Coming up with reasons to be in Boston hasn’t been hard.
But being away from Cara has. Not waking up with her in my arms definitely has.
