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“Might we have a moment, Mr. Porter?” Mum asked, almost making me jump.
Wow.
Who knew it was my mild case of panic that would make her speak today?
“Of course. I’ll be back in five minutes,” he said, standing up. “Regrettably, I have another appointment shortly after.”
“Thank you,” Mum said, watching as the man left his own office for us, then turned around. “Dad wanted you to have it,” she told me softly, pushing her hair away from her face. “He knew how much you loved the place as a child, and he thought you might be able to give it the love and attention it needs.”
“But you pretty much grew up there, Mum. It was a bigger part of your life than mine,” I said, taking her hand.
“I agreed with him.” Her lips formed a small smile. “I don’t want to take that on, Lottie. I’m sixty this year—I’m too old for all that nonsense. I’d just have to hire someone else to run it or give it to you anyway, and Grandpa already tried that after he moved. It was too stressful, you know that.”
“I don’t know how to run it,” I repeated. “And renovations? I don’t know the first thing about that!”
“We’ll be here,” Dad said reassuringly.
“What do you mean?”
“Your father’s military pension is generous, and I can work remotely,” Mum explained. “We’re going to sell the house and move back here.”
I stared at them both. “Wow. This day just keeps getting worse.”
She laughed lightly, squeezing my fingers. “Oh, darling. I’m sorry. I should have told you before what his plans were. I understand this is blindsiding you.”
Blindsided? Me? By all this? No, surely not. Not me. I was fine. This was fine. Everything was fine.
Thank God that little tangent stayed in my head.
“A little bit, yeah,” was what I actually said.
“Why don’t we go back to the house and get something to eat before the wake this evening?” Dad suggested. “There’s plenty of food there from the neighbours, and we can always head over to The Ivy to see what kind of state it’s in. I suspect your grandpa left you that money to spend on it.”
“I don’t… I… okay,” I finally said, a little helplessly.
That’s how I felt.
Helpless.
Talk about your life being turned upside down in a matter of hours.
“Wait, what about my job? I can’t just quit!” I said, looking at Mum.
“Of course you can,” she replied blithely, sitting back in the chair. “Your boss is an absolute bastard. Just tell him you aren’t coming back, and he can suck it.”
I stared at her. “I can’t say that!”
“Sure you can. What’s the rat-bastard going to do, drive all the way here to make you work your one-week notice? You’ve been trying to find a new job anyway, so here you go.” She made a sweeping motion towards the desk with the will with one arm. “And it has the added bonus that you won’t have to live with your parents anymore. That’s a win-win for everyone here.”
Dad’s lips curved into a smile. “She’s right. You are always complaining about both those things.”
“All right,” I grumbled, adjusting the skirt of my dress. “You might have a point.”
CHAPTER TWO
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Dad asked, looking at me with concern. “You said yourself that you have no idea what you’re looking at.”
I shook my head. “Thanks, but I’m still feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all,” I admitted. “I think I’ll just go, have a look around, and maybe we can all go tomorrow or something?”
