AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shrugged, feeling the weight of her family’s hands around her. “I’m so glad you two are here and that we’ve hashed things out. I just can’t go back to the way things were. I can’t go back to New York after everything we did here. But clearly this dream of mine isn’t happening.”
Georgia looked back to the house. When she turned back around, she had a hopeful smile. “We can fix this place up again. It’s not like we don’t have time.”
“We can’t. Even with insurance, it won’t cover the renovations. There’s really nothing we can do to get it back to the way it was. And… I have no money left. Everything I had was either given to your father or put into this house.”
April wasn’t sure how much she should tell Georgia. After everything they’d been through, she still cared enough to keep her view of Carl in good light. It might not have been completely honest, but at least she wasn’t tearing him down.
The lies about the divorce were one thing, but talking bad about her father to her face was something completely different. It felt like a line she didn’t want to cross.
Caroline’s arm gently raised away from April’s back. Her smirk aroused suspicion from April. “Mom? What are you thinking?”
“I might have a way to help with the whole money thing.”
April knew her mom well. Well enough to know that she didn’t have all the cash needed to fix up the whole house. “How do you think we’re going to get enough to fix this dump?”
“It’s not a dump, it’s your dream home,” Georgia corrected with raised brows, scolding her own mother. April chuckled.
“For starters, I’m going to sign over this house to you. It’ll be yours. For good.”
Her eyes got big. “Seriously? That’s really kind of you.”
“Oh, please,” Caroline waved her hands in the air. “You know that it was always yours. I was just being a grouch earlier. I shouldn’t have held it over your head. You’ve always been the one to take care of the place, to keep up on its taxes, to make sure it stays in the family. Now you’re going to make sure it’s everything you want it to be.”
April finally felt a glimmer of hope, which died as soon as she thought about the terrifying logistics. “But how will we get the money to fix it? There’s hardly any work here that will pay me enough to live somewhere and renovate the house.”
“You won’t need to work. You’ll sell the house in New York. I’ll help you sell it, get it ready to go on the market and everything. You can use the money from that to pay for the house down here. It’ll all even out.”
Georgia tapped her shoulder. “Wow, Mom! This is really happening!”
Quieter, April replied to her mom, “But what about Carl? He owns half of the house. Which means that I’ll have to pay him half. Do you think that’s enough money to fix up this dump after everything that’s happened? I’m still worried-”
“He won’t get half. Not after what he did to you,” Caroline said a bit too loud.
Georgia’s eyes thinned into slits. “What happened? Who did what to you?”
After an exasperated sigh, Caroline responded, “Your father took some money that belonged to your mother. She’s deserving of more than half the house.”
Everything April had just decided about Georgia and Carl blew out the window. She couldn’t lie now. Her head hung low, defeated in her efforts to salvage their relationship with her own deception.
At least it wasn’t her who let the truth spill out. That was what she told herself, anyway. Technically she didn’t break the rules because it was her mother that had revealed the truth about Carl.
“Unfortunately, that’s true. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to look at your dad in a negative way. He’s a great guy, really. It’s just… he made a bad decision and took money out of my account to do some of his traveling.”
Georgia’s hand went to her chin, her brows furrowed in thought. “I get it. He’s not perfect. None of us are. But he did a bad thing, which means however you want to work that out, that’s up to you.”
“Right, which is how exactly, Mom? Technically he owns half of that house.”
With a smile, Caroline explained herself. “We’ll hire the best lawyers in the country. He took money without your permission, from your own account. That’s not going to look good to a judge if he wants to take it to court. We’ll get the house. I can promise you that much.”
April wondered if her mother knew that from experience with her father, or from the soap operas she liked to binge on the weekends. Either way, she had to trust her. All of this would work out for the better. The plan was great.
“I also have something to say,” Georgia said softly. She looked at the ground as if searching for the right words to appear before her. “I think that I’m going to go back to school.”
“That’s wonderful!” Caroline shouted.
April’s head snapped back to her mother’s, trying to push her to calm down. “What do you mean, honey? I thought you didn’t want to go back. What changed your mind?”
“I don’t want to go back for pre-law or medicine or anything big like that. I think I want to do interior design and maybe architecture? I don’t know yet.” The words tumbled out of her mouth, faster and faster. “But definitely interior design. Maybe I’ll find a new school that specializes in it and get to be around real artists.”
