“Good? I’ve never seen a house like this in Juniper Falls.”
“I’ll ask ‘round about the contractors the old owner used. They can do the same to your Gran’s place.” I say, proud of myself for thinking of it, but her face falls.
“Yeah,” she says, but she clearly disagrees with the idea. Hm.
I move to the master closet, excited to see her stylish girly stuff all set out on display before she moves it to the guest room wardrobe. The moving company has an extra service for professional home organizing as they unpack. Obviously, I paid for the upgrade.
“And in h—” I open the doors but the closet is almost empty. “Wait, where are your things?”
She comes in behind me and gasps, “Wow, this is a freaking Carrie Bradshaw closet.” I don’t ask what that is, instead waiting for a reply.
“I told them to unpack and organize all your clothes and shoes and so on, lazy wankers must’ve—” I get out my phone to call and complain.
“They did, it looks great,” she says, her voice a bit shy.
“They what? Where’s the rest?”
“This is it,” she rubs her arms, either from the cold or the sheer awkwardness around us. “Except, crap, I forgot my winter stuff from the coat closet.”
“What do you mean, this is it? You’re, you know, fashion-y. I remember, you had wicked shoes, a different dress every day and night event at Emerson’s wedding. There’s what, ten shirts here? One jumper?”
“Sweater, boss. We call them sweaters here. It’s weird you call them that, we don’t go jumping in—”
“For the love of—” I start to yell.
“I sold it all, okay?” She yells back. My mouth falls open. “I told you I had to pay off all my brother’s debt. And that’s what I did.” She storms out of the room and back out toward the living space.
“Janie,” I call after her but she doesn’t slow. “Janie!” She’s trembling a bit as she throws open the fridge.
“Did you pay for groceries, too? Of course you did,” she murmurs.
“Janelle!”
“Benedict!” She sasses at me, finally, and slams the fridge door.
I step around the marble island slowly, hands open in surrender. “Tell me what really happened. Please. Clearing out your savings is one thing but why? Why would you have to sell all your things?”
She stares me down and I stare right back, willing her to open up to me.
But she doesn’t. She blinks slowly and when her long, dark lashes flutter open again, I can see the walls are back. Whatever she’s about to say is not the full truth, not the worst of it. Not yet.
“Why does anyone sell their stuff? My savings wasn’t enough to help my brother again after moving Gran. When I said wiped out I meant it, so I had to sell everything I could, okay? Can you just drop it?”
I inhale and nod. Then I sigh, “But we’re going now to get your winter things. It’s getting cold.”
“To Gran’s? No.”
“Yes. I want to see it and I want us to get your stuff under the cover of darkness.”
She shakes her head, “I can go tomorrow.”
“Please, just show it to me. I want to see where you grew up and what you’re going to remodel.” I can see her wavering. “And I can always just go see it on my own. They won’t even charge me with breaking and entering, I’m too bloody likable.”
“Ugh, that’s true and it irritates me.”
“Everything irritates you, love.”
She sighs, “Fine. But you cannot comment on how bad her house is. And you can’t offer to help or fix it or anything, you getme? I already got a payment and this is what the payments are for. You can’t go be all….billionaire about this.”
