“Oh, I’m just fine, Sadie!”
I could hear loud voices in the background.
“Are you busy?”
“I’m playing mahjong with Greta and Hildy.”
Greta and Hildy aka Mrs. Cransom and Mrs. White. They were mahjong sharks but I figured Mrs. Flores could hold her own.
“I’m holdin’ up the game. I gotta go.”
“Okay, well I’ll come—” The phone cut off before I finished telling her that I would see her soon.
“Is she okay?” Charli called out, I looked up and saw that she’d climbed in the soaker tub.
“Yeah, she’s living at Bay View Assisted Care now.”
“So, this is really all yours?”
I dialed another number.
“Green Homes Property Management, this is Sheila.”
“Hi Sheila, this is Sadie Burke.”
“Oh, hi Sadie.”
I could hear the resignation in her tone. I’d been calling a lot over the past month, but that’s only because I’d never had my home and business burn down in one fell swoop and I’d had a lot of questions. Some of them had come from my dad, but ninety percent of them were from me.
“Um, so I moved back in, and the apartment is…” I tried to put into words what it was.
“Is something wrong? The new owner spared no expense. Its market value has quadrupled.”
No expense.
Quadrupled?
“My rent has quadrupled?” If that was the case, I was going to have to find a new place to live. There was no way that I could afford that.
“No. Thevaluehas. Your rent for both the commercial and residential space is the same.” I could hear a phone ringing in the background. “Is there anything else I can help you with, Ms. Burke?”
Sheila was not my biggest fan and her irritation with me was clear. I knew I should let her go, but I still had questions. “The apartment is double the size.”
“Triple actually,” she responded matter-of-factly.
“And completelyrenovatedandfurnished,” I explained.
“So you’re calling to report your apartment is renovated, furnished, and triple the square footage?”
Okay, now she was just being snarky. “I just don’t understand why.”
“Is there a complaint that I can assist you with, Ms. Burke?”
Obviously, I wasn’t going to get the answers I needed from Sheila.
“No. Thank you.” I hung up the phone.
“You know who did this don’t you?” Charli asked as she stared at her reflection in the mirror of my bathroom. She’d gotten out of the tub and looked to be checking for crow’s feet.
