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“Do you?”
“No.”
Just like that, the funeral is over.
We head back to Gray’s car and all slide in.
“I need to go by the house. See how bad it is,” I say as I tug at my tie.
“We’ll go with you, but maybe we should change first,” Nora suggests.
We pile back into the rental car and drive back across town to the hotel. It’s still just as dead as it was when we got here last night.
“Meet back down here in twenty?” I ask as we ride up to my floor.
“Sounds good.”
I change quickly, grateful to be out of the suit and tie. It doesn’t take me long to get ready and I send a message to Gray, asking them if they’re hungry and where they want to go for lunch. Gray texts back suggesting that we just grab Wendy’s or something. I send back a thumbs up and grab my car keys.
The house looks just as bad in broad daylight as it did the other night and my fingers tighten on the steering wheel as I park the car.
No one moves and I can tell that none of us are happy to be here and that no one wants to go inside.
Nora’s old house is just down the street and I catch her looking over at it, a thin layer of fear clouding her eyes.
Her dad was an alcoholic just like mine, but as far as I know, he never hit her. I’m sure that her brother, Niall, would have killed him if he had. Hell, I would have helped him if he had asked. Nora and Gray getting together is inevitable, so I’ve always thought of her as a little sister. She’s family.
Gray says something to Nora, calming her down and getting her to look away from her childhood home. I climb out, wanting to give them some privacy.
They follow me up to the front door and Gray grabs Nora’s hand as we maneuver our way around the sagging porch.
“We’ll have to fix that if we want to sell this place,” I mumble and I can’t help but glare around the house.
There isn’t much left. I’m sure that Rod has sold or pawned everything of value over the years. Gray is rooted to the spot, his eyes darting around the place and I wonder which memories have him. Nothing good ever happened here.
“Where should we start?” Gray asks, looking over to me.
“I’m not sure there’s much to do. I was expecting way worse but there isn’t much left. I’ll have to hire a crew or do an inspection to see if we need to fix it up or start from scratch and then we can list the place.”
“Do you want to look around? See if there’s anything that you want?” Nora asks and we both shake their heads no immediately.
“I haven’t needed anything here for the last five years so I can live without it now. Let’s just go,” Gray says and we all nod, letting him lead the way back down the front porch steps and over to the car.
This town doesn’t hold good memories for any of us. It’s why we all were so desperate to escape it when we were younger.
We pass by The Garden Goddess and I wonder if maybe it’s about time that I changed that.
“Can you pull over here?” I ask from the back seat and Gray nods, turning into the nursery parking lot.
“Doing some gardening?” Gray asks dryly and I just roll my eyes.
“We’re going to need to fix up the outside to sell the house. I just want to see if they do landscaping. I’ll be right back.”
I climb out of the car and make my way over to where Evangeline is busy setting up a stand of some kind of tall grass.
“Hey,” I say, clearing my throat and she spins around to face me.
“Hey, enjoying the sunshine?” she asks with a smile and I’m about to lie and say yes, but I can’t.
