She nodded and opened the front door, hitting the entry lights.The house was quiet, and dark.She should have thought to leave more lights on.
“Pops?”she called out, but there was no response.She moved to the kitchen but it was empty.She heard the front door close and found Wes standing in the foyer with concern etched on his face.Then she dropped her bag and walked through the sitting room back to Pops’s library.Her heart pounded as she rounded the doorway.
A cry escaped when she found Pops, hunched over in his favorite chair, his book open in his lap.Then Wesley was there moving past her into the room.He checked Pops’s pulse, then turned to her.
“I’m so sorry, Shelby.”He pulled her into his arms and out of the room, and all she could do was sob.
“We didn’t have enough time together,” she cried, and Wesley held her.
*
Sitting in Pops’skitchen with a cold cup of tea, Shelby could hardly stand to blink her swollen eyes.It felt like she had sand under her lids but not even the tears helped.She was exhausted and just wanted to crawl in her bed and sleep, then maybe when she woke up this would all be just a bad dream.But the sound of her father’s voice forced her to stand up.Even though he spoke low she heard Wesley tell her father the coroner was taking Pops’s body away.And fresh tears pricked her eyes.
When she stepped into the foyer, she expected to find her dad distraught, but he stood stone-faced.“I’ll be interested to hear what he died from,” her father said.“It was your brother who saw him last.He probably missed something.”
“Dad, Pops was eighty-two years old.He died in his sleep,” Shelby said.
“We’ll see.Why don’t you pack your things and you can come stay with your mother and I.”
“Why now?”
“So you’re not alone here,” her father said, looking at her with skepticism instead of compassion.
“I live alone in Atlanta and I’m too exhausted to move my things.”
“Were you here?”
“No, I was out.When I came home around dusk, I found him, in his favorite chair in the library.”
“So much for keeping your eye on him.I told you we should have moved him to a home.He would have had twenty-four-hour nursing staff at his fingertips.”
“Are you saying it’s my fault Pops died?”Her stomach twisted in knots.
“I’m saying you should have been here like you said you were going to be.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“Mr.Shepherd, I know this is a shock but it’s not Shelby’s fault.The coroner said your father likely suffered a mild heart attack and died in his sleep.”
“I don’t need your second-hand medical assessments, Hart.You can leave.This is a family issue.”
Wesley looked to Shelby.Did she want him to stay?
“Dad, I think you’re the one who should leave.”
Her dad took another step inside.“Why, so you can pilfer all your grandfather’s valuables?I don’t think so.This is my father’s home.I need you to find another place to stay until the reading of the will, Shelby.As I’ve said, you’re welcome to stay with your mother and I.”
“What the hell?”She couldn’t stop the tears from falling.“First you accuse me of causing Pops’s death, and then of being a thief?And you think I’d step one foot in your house?You ignored him for decades, treated him like a nuisance.And now you think you’re in charge?”
Her father’s face turned bright red.“How dare you speak to me this way.”
“Maybe you should both vacate the premises until we can determine who is the next of kin named by Mr.Shepherd,” Wesley said, stepping between them.
“Fine, but I’m not leaving until you pack your things, Shelby.We all know you’re not exactly financially solvent as a waitress.”
Shelby straightened her spine.“I’m actually a very successful author, Dad.If you had ever bothered to ask me about my life, or my little writing hobby as you called it, you would know that.I don’t need your charity or Pops’s money.I assure you sitting at number one on every book list for a year earns a pretty penny.But I’ll pack my things and call my lawyer.”She didn’t stay for her dad’s reaction and stomped off down the hallway to the room where she’d been staying.She couldn’t look in the library; she knew she wouldn’t find Pops there ever again.
Now the only reason she had to stay in town was gone, and her father’s cold treatment was proof her family wasn’t going to want her around.Which was worse than being ignored.By the time she packed her things, Wes and her dad were waiting outside.Her father was in his car, but Wes stood near his truck typing on his work computer.She locked up Pops’s front door and hauled her bags to her truck, but Wes was there to help her.
