“You can sell the house, but you have to live there for two months first,” the lawyer explained again.
“Did you know about this?” Samira asked her aunt.
“Yes. Brian and I talked about it, and we knew you would try to sell it right away to avoid having to deal with it,” Mary admitted.
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I’m sorry dear. We knew how things were left with your parents and we just didn’t want you to sell the place without giving yourself enough time to think about it first. Your parents left it to us after you left the house ‘just in case’. We knew the whole reason was so that you could still end up with it even though you were upset with them at the time,” Mary tried to explain.
“Where do I sign?” Samira asked, anxious to get this part over and done with. “And how are you going to know if I stay there or not?”
“The honor system. Your aunt and uncle were confident that you will do the right thing,” he answered quietly. “Also, your aunt is the only one who can contest it, short of me spying on you. Which I won’t.”
“Just let me sign whatever you have so I can get out of here. I have to get out of here,” she said with her voice rising in panic.
She took the packet of papers and signed in all the highlighted spaces. When she had finished signing, she went straight upstairs to get her things. Spending the rest of the week with her aunt wasn’t going to happen. Whatever else went down, onething was for certain: she had to get out of there. With the way her aunt had blindsided her, she needed some space. She was still stuffing some items into a tote as she made her way back down the stairs.
“Where are you going?” her aunt asked nervously.
“Home. I have to get out of here. I’m sorry.”
“Stop running, honey. You should know by now that running doesn’t solve anything.”
“I’m not running. I just can’t be here right now.”
The thought of spending time in her childhood home had her in a full panic. She hadn’t stepped foot in the house in fifteen years. Even when her parents died, she hadn’t gone in there. She had let her aunt and uncle take care of everything. She was trying to get past things using baby steps, and spending two months in her childhood home was not a baby step.
Without another word, she walked out the front door and to her car. She would spend the necessary time in her childhood home if that’s what it took to be done with it. First, she had to talk to her boss and figure out how to make it work. Didn’t her aunt understand that she had her own life, and it was in Washington, D.C?
***
“Wait, what?” Andrea asked in disbelief.
“You heard me,” Samira said as she picked up her glass from the bar and took a long drink.
When Samira left her aunt’s house, she had headed straight for Washington, DC. She called Andrea on the way and said to meet her at the bar around the corner from her loft. After what the lawyer dumped into her lap, she was in desperate need of a drink.
“It might be good for you if we can make it work,” Andrea said slowly.
“Not you too,” Samira said in disbelief. “I don’t need an intervention. I’ve been living a happy and productive life for this entire time.”
“Have you really been happy?”
“I work hard and have moved up to hotel manager. I love my apartment. What about that says I’m not happy?”
“I’m not saying you are a miserable person, but I think you would be happier once you aren’t so bothered by your past,” Andrea answered carefully. “We’ll make this work. He said you don’t have to spend every single night there, right? What if you work four days a week, and one day you can work from home. Say, Monday through Thursday with Friday as your work from home day? Do the commute here Monday morning and go back Thursday afternoon? Will that work?”
Samira stirred her drink while she thought about it. She knew Andrea would make it work, but she had been hoping she would say it wasn’t possible, so she could use it as an argument. She could drive the two hours twice a week. It would be like having a long weekend away every week. Definitely doable. If only she could get her aunt to agree that it counts as living there.
“Andrea, I don’t know what to do,” Samira sighed.
“I think we may have just figured it out.”
“No. Not just the logistics. The rest of it. I haven’t been in that house since I left fifteen years ago. I know it’s been a long time, but I don’t think I can do it. And what am I going to do about Andy?”
“You’re stronger than you think.” Andrea gave her a friendly pat on the leg. “And what about Andy?”
Samira told her about spending the day on his boat and how kind and thoughtful he was toward her. She talked about the conversations they had and how they had definitely left the boaton much better terms than she thought possible. She finished up by talking about the kiss under the moonlight and how they had ultimately decided to be friends.
