AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why stop now?” she asked, gesturing toward a deep scuff in the wall that needed leveling.
Jacob shook his head in disbelief. “I never wanted to repaint the house, you know,” he replied, loading more paste onto the knife and getting the work done quickly.
“Did you say ‘house’?” Kay grinned. He was coming to his senses.
He sighed. “I’m not an idiot, sis. I know you won’t stop with the kitchen.”
“You are wise indeed, little brother,” she quipped, but the fake cheerfulness didn’t touch her eyes nor color her voice.Fake it till you make it, she thought, willing herself to smile for her brother’s sake.
“The main bedroom would probably come next,” Jacob said, patching up the holes quickly. “Then the bathrooms, then the rest of the house, just because.”
“Yup,” she admitted, pouring coffee in Jacob’s mug and setting it on the counter close to him.
He paused his energetic work pace and took a sip, then set the mug down on the counter. “Ugh, it’s hot.” He studied a big hole by the fridge he’d rolled to the center of the room, and grumbled an oath. “This will need some bridging material.”
Her father’s fist had gone through the drywall and stopped against the two-by-four on the other side. Kay still remembered that day, that fight, the sound of the forceful punch cracking the wall. He was aiming for her mother’s head, too drunk to land the blow that would’ve been deadly. She shuddered as she willed the nightmarish vision away.
“Or we could move,” Jacob said, staring at her. “Sell this place, take our chances, and go. Disappear.” He stared at the floor for a moment, then gestured at the walls. “Leave all this shit behind. All the bad memories.”
They looked at each other without a word, then Kay’s eyes veered to the window, where the willows stood tall, the rays of the sun piercing through their foliage.
They could never move.
Jacob shrugged and resumed his work. “Well, at least the place is paid for. I’ll help you make it nice.”
She squeezed his hand gently. “Let’s tile this kitchen and replace the cabinets.”
“Whoa, there, now wait a minute.” But she was facing him with her hands propped on her hips, her jaw thrust forward, and an expression on her face she usually reserved for suspect interrogations.
His arms fell in a gesture of defeat. Kay smiled. An easy victory.
“It’s the least I can do since I’m not paying any rent.”
“Rent? It’s your house too.”
She nodded. “Okay, but you’ll take the main bedroom as soon as it’s done. We’ll do that next. Lynn will love it.”
A moment of silence, heavy, unwanted, like a dark storm cloud chasing away the sunshine.
“It was his room,” Jacob whispered. “I won’t sleep in there. You take it if you want it.”
There was a stern finality in his statement.
She couldn’t see herself sleeping in her parents’ room either. Too many memories, seeding endless nightmares.
She managed a weak smile.
“Why don’t we discuss this again after it’s redone and unrecognizable? Your girlfriend might have the final say in this, you know.” She winked. He didn’t smile, didn’t look up from the scuffed linoleum. “The walls aren’t to blame, Jacob,” she whispered, squeezing his arm. “It’s our house now. Our future is what we make of it.”
The loud chime of the phone startled them both. She had a new message.
Kay read it after a quick glance at the display told her it was almost seven.
A Mrs. Jerrell was waiting for her at the precinct to file a missing person report.
Her teenage daughter had vanished.
THREE
