Mom returns from her run and fixes herself a bagel with a side of enough vitamins to constitute a trail mix.
“Should we make a plan for the day?” I suggest, trying not to wince at how much I sound like Renee.
Mom hums. She and Kurt exchange a quick, pinched glance.Suspicious.“Actually, we’d like to talk to you first.”
“You’re engaged.”
Mom lets out a long sigh. “No, Alice.”
“Oh.” I’m more relieved than perhaps I should be. “Then what?”
“We have some updates about the house. This house.”
My heart hits the gas. “You’re selling it.”
“Alice.”
“Sorry, sorry.” I sit on my hands as if they were the ones causing trouble. Mom looks to Kurt again, and Kurt takes the cue, excusing himself for a moment. He returns with a manila folder stuffed to its limits. On the white tab are the wordsOutpost—Important?My heart gives a little spasm; they’re written in Dad’s messy handwriting.
Kurt licks his thumb and flips open the folder. “Do you know how we got this house?” He’s looking at me.
“The band bought it shortly after I was born,” I recite. Dad told the story in all sorts of interviews.
“The band bought it,” Kurt agrees, nodding as he thumbs through paperwork. “It was owned by that separate LLC for a number of years…and thenSongs for Alicewent platinum.”
I flinch.Songs for Alicewas released the year I turned two. It didn’t go platinum until I hit middle school.
Kurt folds his hands. He peers at me over his glasses. “At that point, your dad bought us out of our shares.”
I stare at Kurt, waiting for the next sentence. It doesn’t come. “Okay?”
Kurt spins the folder and pushes it across the tables. He looks to Mom for her approval, and she nods, urging him on. “The reason he did this,” Kurt says, “is because you were the only kid any ofus planned to have, and if not for you, we wouldn’t have this album. And that was around the time Ricky’s drinking was getting real bad. We all agreed it made good sense that Ricky owned the place so if anything happened, if the band broke up or, well, y’know.” Kurt’s throat bobs with a swallow. “He could leave it to you.”
I blink at him. At Mom. My brain feels like an overstuffed manila envelope.
“He left it…to me?”
My eyes take a lap toward the living room. There’s dust on the fireplace, the warm butter-yellow glow of the lamplight diffused through antique shades.My dust on my fireplace, I think.My lamplight through my antique shade.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“At first, we didn’t think you were ready.” Mom rests one hand on Kurt’s thigh, a silent reminder of whoweis. “Then—well, we’ve been trying to tell you for a while now. It’s just not the type of conversation to have over text or a phone call. We wanted to make sure you got out here to see the house first before you made any decisions.”
“Decisions,” I parrot. “Like…what? Sorry, I’m just…”
“You’re doing great, kiddo,” Kurt says. “You let me know if we need to slow down, but essentially, there are two big options.” He dips his chin, and his glasses slip down his nose at least an inch. “You can keep the house. Mortgage is paid off. Just taxes and maintenance on this place, which…it ain’t free.”
“Or?”
“Or we’ll buy it from you.” Kurt pauses, then adds, “And bywe,I mean the band.”
“You’d buy back your own house?”
“It’s not our house,” he reminds me. “But it’s set up for us, and with all the new music we have to record, we sure could use it. And we’ve already gotten it appraised and can pay cash for what the place is worth.”
He sorts through his papers, then passes me the documents from the appraisal. It’s like peeling back the film on the last year of my life. My underwhelming inheritance, the one I assumed Dad had blown on booze, was only that small because I’m sitting inside the walls of the rest of it. I could buy a place in the city and still have plenty of money left. It’s not retire-at-thirty money, but it’s a rock-solid foundation to do anything I want to do.
“Of course, if you do choose to keep the house, the band would love to work out terms to use the studio, if you’re willing. It could be a pretty bit of recurring income for you, if that’s the route you take.”
