Annie nodded. “This is a mess. I’m sorry, Crystal.”
I sighed and glanced at my watch. “Hey, we’re finished for the day. Beth Roth canceled her private lesson this afternoon. I have an idea. Would you mind riding over to Mom’s house.”
“Haven’t they sold it yet?”
“No, but the realtor has an offer, I believe. Anyway, I want to go inside one more time, and I don’t want to go alone. For some reason I think it will help me gather my thoughts… maybe even get some clarity as to how to process this. That is if there really is a way to proceed. Or maybe I just have to accept I won’t be getting my inheritance from my uncle.”
“Sure, let me grab my purse. I’d like to see it now that it has a fresh coat of paint and everything has been moved out.”
“Well, not everything. The realtor asked me to leave a few things. You know, to stage it to show interested buyers.”
My unusual idea meant stepping foot inside a house I swore I’d never see again after I had closed it out, and the bank had put it on the market.
Yet as I pulled my Honda into my mother’s driveway, I felt the imaginary bandaid being ripped off of my skin.
Even though Annie had come along, it was time to put my big girl panties on and face what fate had dished out to me. The realtor had given me the code to the key lockbox that was on the door. Holding my breath, I twisted the dials until the latch fell slack. After removing the key I opened the door.
We noticed how nothing had changed since the last time we both had been there when the maid came to help me with Mom’s stuff. The same floral tapestries were hanging at the window, and the sparse furniture I had left behind was still in place. I looked down the hallway and into the kitchen, picturing my mother standing over the stove while making one of her favorite vegetable soups, and drew in a breath.
No, I wasn’t crazy or hallucinating, but I knew if I came back with Annie by my side, I would find comfort knowing Mom’s spirit was near.
My mother had been a huge believer in the after-life. Whenever a family member passed away, she’d tell me that we’d all reunite on the other side in heaven. Even as I got older and thought she had only said those things to make me feel better, I soon realized that she wasn’t just sugarcoating death.
I still had some apprehensions about life after death, though.
That’s one of the things I loved the most about her. Even when life was crumbling all around her, Mom found a way to stay positive. I picked up that same energy in her house. That’s why I had decided on the spur of the moment to come back.
We sat on the two red leather-covered bar stools, and I leaned my elbows on the kitchen island. The light over the sink that was always left on by the realtor was flickering a bit. And a moth was beating its wings against the outside of the window.
I drew in a deep breath and spoke out loud. I wasn’t sure if I was speaking to Annie, my mother or myself, or possibly all three of us as I sorted through the situation with Uncle Michael’s surprise stipulation. I covered my face with my hands and began to sob. “All hope of getting my life financially back on track just slipped away, like sand escaping from my fingers at the beach. Mom was always so carefree. So, I had assumed her brother had been too. I guess the old saying, ‘don’t count your chickens before they hatch,’ is particularly poignant right now.”
Annie laughed softly before she offered a few words of encouragement. “Let’s think out of the box, Crystal.” She patted my hand and rubbed the back of my neck.
“Where the hell is Moldova anyway,” I mumbled.
“Somewhere on the other side of the world…Europe, yeah, eastern Europe, I think.”
I buried my head in my hands and wanted to cry again, but I was fresh out of tears. Just when my life was finally getting back on track, it had taken a drastic turn for the worse in the last hour.
Suddenly, I almost jumped off the stool when my phone beeped. I had a text.
Gavin: I had a wonderful lunch. Hope to see you after work. Let’s pick some herbs from my garden and fix Italian for dinner.
I started to giggle. The answer to my problem had just appeared right before my eyes. “I’ve got it, Annie. Gavin. I’ll talk to Gavin about being my—“
“Fake groom?” She clapped her hands. “No harm in asking.”
Me: Sounds great. I have something to ask you.
Gavin: What?
Me: Talk this evening. What time?
Gavin: 6:00. You have me on pins and needles.
14
Gavin
