But the caller ID on her phone didn’t list a familiar number.
The display readBarken Realty.
J.J. picked up.
“Hello.”
“J.J., It’s Mary Barken!”
“Hi, Mary.”
“We have a deal!”
J.J. had put the house she’d shared with Dean, their first house—her only house—on the market. They’d bought it from Jackie, actually, decades ago. That was how Jackie had afforded her snowbird lifestyle over the years. It wasn’t extravagant, but social security, the house money, and her tiny place kept Jackie happy.
Dean had helped J.J. take care of Jackie. He never lost patience with Jackie and her weird demands.
“Already?” It had been up for sale for less than a month.
“Yep. I told you real estate was hot, hot, hot.”
“Even after the tornado?”
“Oh, are you kidding me? That hasn’t stopped Libby, Stone, or any big developers from sniffing around. And I got you ten grand above asking, thanks to the incredible upgrades Dean did.”
“Stone Stirling?”
“Yeah, right? Strange bedfellows there. But yeah, he works with her all the time!”
Stone Stirling was Libby and J.J.’s arch nemesis. She wanted to ask a million questions, but this was about untangling from her old life, not sticking her nose back into Irish Hills.
“Well, what’s next?” J.J. asked as she tried to process it. The house was sold. She wanted to move on, and here it was, another huge step forward.
“Well, you need to get your stuff packed, and I need to set a closing date with you. When can you be back?”
J.J. had not anticipated this part, the going back part. Was she ready to do that? The little grip she felt in the beat of her heart said no. She wasn’t ready to go back.
“Could I do it from here, remotely?”
“Well, since you’re going to be here to pack, I can schedule it all at once.”
“It’s just that…I’m unsure if I’ll be back.”
“Well, you can close from there, and I could hire a company to pack it up for you and put it in storage.”
“How much does that cost?”
“Let me get an estimate, but I think you’re going to spend the extra 10K I got you in the sale price to hire it out.”
J.J. winced. Dean would lose it if he thought she was considering just hiring it out. They always did everything themselves. She could go back to enlist the boys. But the idea that it would just be taken care of, that she didn’t have to sift through every memory and decide whether to throw it out or put it in storage felt easier. She wanted it easier.
“Let me get back to you on this. I need to think.”
“Okay, but don’t think too long. This family wants in before summer.”
It was May, and summer was coming soon.
“Sure, sure, and great job on the sale.”
