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He turns to look at the will in front of us. “Are we accepting blood money?”

“It’s like fifty-fifty.”

“I know I shouldn’t be happy about this but the house is yours now and I don’t have to worry about something happening to you. It was killing me to think about leaving tomorrow and you going back to your apartment.”

“The house is ours.”

He shakes his head. “No. You should have the house, T. And you can finally go to school like you’ve always wanted.”

“Yeah,” I whisper, a smile teasing my lips. My life has been flipped completely on its head in the last week and as much as I would do anything to have my mom back here with me, I’m also so incredibly grateful for everything she’s just done for us.

Chapter Four

Tatum

“I wish you weren’t leaving,” I admit as Theo drives me to work on his way out of town. He was originally supposed to leave this morning but after the shock we got yesterday, neither one of us were quite ready to say good-bye yet. Plus, we had a few new errands to run with those huge checks Mr. Wiley dropped off. Glancing over at me with a frown that matches my own, he nods.

“Believe me, I’m not looking forward to it either.”

Since the moment Theo and I were born, we’ve truly never been alone but it sure feels like as soon as he rolls out of town, I have no one left to turn to. I lived across town from Mom but she was always here if I needed her. She was a constant in my life and never once had I imagined having to live without her. Her death and her absence in my life is a gaping hole. I can feel it with each breath I take in and push out, and I don’t think it will ever be filled. It’s just part of who I am now and I have to learn to live around it.

“Do you have leave saved up?” I ask, hoping he’ll be able to get back home soon. He’s at a shore command right now, which means no deployments so in theory, he should be able to get time off to visit.

He glances over at me and nods. “Yeah, somewhere around forty five days, I think. Why?”

“Come back soon, please.” I hate how broken my voice sounds but the thought of not having Theo here anymore has tears building in my eyes and a lump lodged in my throat. I’ve lost my mother and I need my brother.

“You know I will, T. Everything has changed now and what’s important to me is different. We have to look out for each other.”

“Slacker,” I tease, giving him a nudge and doing my best to crack a smile even though I feel like everything is falling down around me. “I’ve been doing that for years.”

“I’m serious, Tate. I don’t like you being alone.”

I shrug, trying to play off the loneliness that’s already weighing down on me. “What about you? You’re going to be all alone in Charleston.”

“I’ll be all right,” he shoots back as he rolls his eyes and I cross my arms over my chest.

“And why wouldn’t I be okay? Because I’m a girl? I had the same training you did, jerk.”

He laughs, holding his hands up in surrender for a second before returning them to the wheel. “You’re right. I just meant that I wish I could stay.”

“I know,” I mutter. I didn’t mean to snap at him. He pulls into the diner’s parking lot and I sigh at the sight of the afternoon crowd filling the tables as he finds a spot in the back. Once the car is parked, he turns toward me and tears well up in my eyes.

“You have to be better at texting me back,” I tell him and he nods.

“I will, T. And if I don’t, just scream at me in your head and I’ll hear you.”

I laugh, sniffling as I wipe away a tear. “I wish it really worked like that.”

“Sometimes I swear it does. Right before you called to tell me Mom was dead, I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt like I had to call you. Then, the phone rang.”

“Yeah, and then there are other times like when we went out on a double date in high school and you brought your friend, Daryl. I was sending you ‘get me out of here’ vibes all night and you didn’t even realize.”

He starts laughing. “Actually, I did. I just wanted to see how long it would take before you hit him.”

“And were you disappointed when it took two hours?”

“No,” he answers, shaking his head. “It was thoroughly entertaining the whole time.”