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I haven’t seen him since that first day, but I’m not hopeful I’ve seen the last of him. His threat of selling the house hangs in the air around the place like it knows it’s going to be rid of us soon.
“We don’t have to stay,” Ignacio says, leaning close to my ear after a lady I’ve never seen before in my life walks away.
She told me how much she adored my mother, how she knew her for years, and hinted at them being best friends. Social rules forced me to smile at her, pretend to be sorry for her loss when all I wanted to do was ask her where the fuck she’s been if they were so close. Where was she when Mom got sick? When she sat alone some days during her chemo treatments because I had to drop her off and go back to work so the bills would get paid.
I hate—fucking hate—funerals and wakes. I hate that I’ve experienced this now twice, both of my parents gone way too soon, but at least at Dad’s wake some of the people were genuine. Those people we had over for dinner and backyard BBQs.
Maybe illness is the difference. Maybe friendships were strained due to her long, drawn-out illness. Dad’s death was sudden. There one minute, gone the next. Both deaths are a tragedy, but his was more dramatic. Everyone knows someone who has died of cancer. Very few have gotten news that someone they knew was crushed by a crane on a jobsite.
“Tinley?”
I look up at Ignacio, a look of concern on his handsome face that barely even registers. It’s no longer my job to worry about him and how he’s feeling, not that I’ve spent much effort on it since he popped back into my life in the first place.
“What?”
“Are you ready to leave?”
“There are more people,” I say, despite my whole internal tirade about how much I hate being here right now.
“Fuck those people,” he says. “I don’t care about them.”
Don’t care much for me either.
“Where’s Alex?”
“Waiting in the truck. He doesn’t want to be here.”
And that’s all it takes. I may not have to worry about the man in front of me, but Alex will always be my concern. “Let’s go.”
Ignacio guides me out of the activity center, barely giving me enough time to nod at the minister. By the time we make it back to the house, I’m wishing we stayed to listen to all the shit spewing from people’s mouths.
The scene in front of me when I push open the front door is much worse than dealing with fake people.
Cooper, along with a man I don’t recognize, stand in the middle of the living room, my brother shooting daggers at me at the interruption.
“Buddy, why don’t you go to your room for a while, maybe get out of those nice clothes,” Ignacio urges, his eyes locked on Cooper.
I know Alex wants to argue, wants to be here either to protect me or not wanting to miss whatever family drama is about to unfold.
“Hi,” the stranger says with his hand out stretched as he steps closer to me.
Ignacio repositions himself making it very clear to the man that he doesn’t have permission to touch me. He drops his hand, lips spreading into a thin line.
“I was just talking to your husband—”
“Brother,” I correct, watching the man’s face fall even further.
I glare at Cooper for the lie he told the man. It’s not the first time he’s said some fucked-up shit like that to someone, using the fact that we still have the same last name to manipulate a situation. Usually it’s on a credit application, but this is an all-time low.
“I’m Manny Fitzgerald with Graham Realty.”
“Brooke Holland’s estate hasn’t even been settled,” Ignacio begins. “I think you being here is a little premature.”
Cooper growls, somehow maintaining most of his composure in front of the new man. Houses down here are a hard sell as it is. Finding someone willing to take a look in mere days is a miracle in and of itself.
“No,” I say, putting my hand on Ignacio’s back and urging him to the side. “I think getting a look now is best.”
I give all of them a weak smile, unwilling to explain that I can’t stay here. I don’t want to be homeless, but if I make things harder for Cooper, he’s only going to make things harder for me. If I refuse to let him sell, he’ll demand his half of the value in cash. We all know I don’t have it. If he doesn’t demand money, he’ll move his ass in here and with that comes his degenerate friends, and I refuse to have my son around that.
It doesn’t take long for the man to walk through the property and make notes. Alex keeps a wide berth between him and his uncle. I’ve never bad-mouthed my brother in front of him, but he’s heard the conversations, the yelling when Cooper would show his face at random times in his life. I’m just glad Cooper never set his focus on my child. If he ever did, there would be another plot added to the family burial site.
