Page 76 of One More Kiss

“Yes! I told you that, silly.”

“You’re not a removal or relocation company?”

She pulled a face as she sighed dramatically. “Of course not!”

“Milly moves you. I mean, you can understand where the confusion may come from?”

“No. I don’t.” Her flat stare stopped me from expanding.

Okay, then. “Well, I’m not selling.” Looking around the open-plan living room and kitchen, I craned my neck to see past the Welsh dresser to the nook where I used to eat my breakfast every morning. It had an open, uninterrupted view of the mountain and the peak that rose above it.

“You have to sell,” Milly blurted, and when I turned to her, she was red in the face, whether from irritation or the desperation I heard in the tone of her outburst.

“Who said?” I asked as I gave her my full attention. “Even without Donna having passed, this is my house.”

“The land was your aunt’s.” Milly had gotten over her embarrassment, it seemed.

“And the house is mine.” Milly lost some of her boldness as I asserted my claim. “And if my aunt has left me everything, then the land will also be mine.”

Milly looked as if she wanted to say something more, but instead she gave a light laugh and then picked up her purse. “Well, I have more errands to run. I best get on with my day. I stocked the fridge yesterday.” She put down the house key on the counter. “I hope there’s something in there that’s to your tastes.”

Ouch.

“That was kind of you. You didn’t need to do that.”

“I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but here? We still look out for our friends,” she said with another sniff.

“Yeah, well, as I said, thanks. It’s appreciated, really. If you tell me how much I owe for the groceries and the gas to pick me up, I’ll send you the money.”

Milly’s eyes widened fractionally. “Send me the money?”

“PayPal?” I clarified. “Bank transfer?” She looked even more flummoxed. “I don’t carry cash,” I explained.

“What kind of person doesn’t carry cash?”

“This kind?” I heard the defensive tone and hated myself for it. “Paying on an app is so much easier.”

“Easier for fraud.”

Forcing a smile, I opted to let it drop. “Let me know how much I owe, and once I get cash, I’ll pay you back.” Seriously, how did she sell houses? Did the buyers turn up with jars and jars of nickels?

Milly cast a look over me and then sniffed, again. Maybe she had allergies. “The receipt’s on the fridge.” With a quick goodbye and my promise to pay her soon, she was once again in her truck and heading down the rocky drive.

Closing the door behind her, I locked it out of habit from living in a city. As I walked slowly back into the kitchen, I opened the fridge to see what she had picked up for me. The usual staples were there: milk, butter, bacon, ham, cheese, and tomatoes. Wondering if my great-aunt kept the hen house, I looked out the window to the backyard and saw the chicken coop. Eggs would be provided. She’d also bought me some ground beef, and I saw the onions and potatoes in a corner near the coffee maker.

So, I wouldn’t starve. Yay me.

Moving through the downstairs, I took in my old home. Donna had kept most of it the way it was, but I saw the new heating system, and I paid attention to the windows. The panes were good; it was the window frames that would benefit from some maintenance.

Picking up my bags, I headed upstairs. The two story housed three bedrooms upstairs and two baths. Granted, the bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom was tiny, with room only for a shower, toilet and sink. My dad used to say he could pee in the shower and hit the toilet bowl—which, when I was younger, was funny. Now being a grown woman, who had shared bathrooms with boyfriends and more importantly cleaned those bathrooms, it wasn’t as amusing.

Hesitating at the door to my parents’ old bedroom, I pushed it open slowly. Despite my sass to Milly, I didn’t think I was brave enough to sleep here in the bed my great-aunt had last lain alive on. It had been here she had the heart attack, but it was at the hospital where she died. Not more than twenty-four hours after her heart attack, she had suffered a stroke.

I hadn’t even received the call she was in the hospital until they were calling to tell me she was gone.

Stepping back from the bedroom without going inside, I headed to my old room at the other end of the hall, poking my head into the small guest bedroom as I did. It looked orderly, neat. Pretty much as it had five years ago.

Opening my old bedroom door, I walked in slowly, my eyes taking in the very different layout to when I was last here.

And the clothes.

The male clothes.

The too-big-to-be-a-woman’s boots.

The male…scent.

I knew that scent. I thought I had forgotten it. How could I have forgotten it? When I had never been able to forget him.

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