was all one big room with a bathroom on each end, tall and gleaming columns of wood breaking up the monotony of the oversize room, like they had been load bearing and couldn’t be removed.
The wall and doors that had once stood between the upstairs patio and two of the bedrooms was now a screen of sliding glass doors looking down to the pool, the rest of the pristine backyard, a garden and the lake.
Nothing was like Jade remembered. Her parents had basically torn out every trace of what the house was.
Dark. Oppressive. And old, but not in a cool way.
Now it felt like a completely different house.
Jade didn’t realize she’d been spinning in disoriented circles, trying to take it all in until she stumbled into one of the columns. She slammed into the textured wood hard enough to bruise. She gasped on a breath of pain.
“Are you okay?” Dee appeared at her side.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Nothing here was what she had expected. Yes, she’d felt the roll of familiar anxiety when she stood outside the door, but all that was gone now. She might as well have been standing in a stranger’s home.
In some ways, maybe that was what it was.
Jade took a breath, then swept her gaze around the entire top floor. Yes, she could easily sell this. With the way the real estate market was right now, if she listed the house at even a decent asking price, it would probably get an offer in less than a week. Then it would be out of her life for good. Just like her parents.
She took another breath. “You ready?”
Dee looked confused. “Sure. But that’s it? That’s all you wanted to do? Literally just look around?”
“Of course. And now I’m finished.” She rattled the keys in her hand. “Let’s go.”
For a moment, Dee looked like she was going to ask more questions, but she just huffed and stomped down the stairs while Jade followed her on more silent feet.
This was the house her parents left behind. Now gutted and rearranged and looking like something Jade had never seen before.
This was all that was left of them. This was all that was left of the life she’d lived with them. Just a giant empty space. She swallowed hard.
A sharp pain spasmed under her breastbone and Jade rubbed over the spot. No, she was not sad. It was all just finally over.
She got into the car and started the powerful engine while Dee huffed some more in the passenger seat. “That was so lame,” the girl said.
“Probably. I didn’t promise you any excitement on this outing.”
I don’t even recall inviting you along, Jade thought but kept that last bit to herself.
“So true.” Dee buckled herself in. “Fine.” Her phone beeped and she reached into her back pocket for it. Staring at the phone, she made a happy noise. Her eyes gleamed when she looked up at Jade. “You wanna go someplace I want now?”
What was the alternative? Head back to the hotel and work? Drive herself crazy wondering why her parents gutted the house they loved so much? Try not to think about Carter and all the ways he effortlessly destroyed her peace of mind?
Jade shrugged and gave Dee her most carefree smile. “Sure.”
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