And we’d both be here for it. We weren’t walking away. It might take a lifetime to discover the truth, but we were here for it. We owed it to my sister and ourselves. Royal’s dad could go to hell.
I’d hope the devil laughed at his ass at the gates.
Sixteen
December
I was rocked awake the following weekend by Rosanna. She had Hershey in her arms and a worried look about her face.
“What’s going on?” I asked, blankets falling off my arm. Gazing around, I was glad Royal decided to hightail it out of my room last night. He’d been coming to my bedroom in the evenings, escape from his dad and everything else. These days we preferred to be together more than apart.
Rosanna braced my shoulder. “Come downstairs, honey. Quick. It’s your father.”
My actual first instinct was to worry. It was the way she said it, that same worry on her face I’d seen before, so after she left, my dog still in her arms, I immediately dressed. With her coming in unannounced, I’d been smart to go to bed wearing something. Any other night with Royal in my bed, I would have been in here naked. Once dressed, I headed downstairs with sleep in my eyes and a race in my heart. I was actually worried that something was wrong with my dad.
That was until I found him.
He directed a man with a box, his business suit on. I didn’t know if he was coming from work or going, but either way, he directed not one but several people with boxes into our house. The men and women in orange bibs moved around with our stuff, boxes… literally everywhere and at my feet.
I stepped around a few of the stacked boxes and even had to press myself against the wall a couple times due to all the people coming and going. I found Rosanna with Hershey as I made my way through the cluster, the pair of us watching my dad in wonder as he instructed these people where to go. He directed the majority of them outside of our house.
My lips parted.
“What’s going on?” I asked again, but to Dad this time. The door opened, I gazed outside. There were more people with boxes and all of them were out on our lawn. There was furniture out there too, stacks and stacks, and a peek into my dad’s office across the hall showed me the furniture had come from there. His office was literally empty, the hallway getting there. The framed art on the walls had completely been removed.
Dad barely glanced my way, plucking photos off the walls. They were ones of me, my sister, and our mom. He had quite a few of them peppered around, those warm and beautiful moments so long ago. Quickly covering them with newspaper, Dad fit them into a box at his feet. “There’s been an offer on the house.”
“An offer?”
Only a slight hesitation before covering another photo with paper. He tucked that one into the box too. “Yes, and make yourself useful. These boxes aren’t going to pack themselves.”
Jaw slack, I honestly didn’t know what to do. I had no idea if my dad was crazy or I was just hearing things. I angled a look over at Rosanna who merely nodding, sighing before taking Hershey away. She mentioned something about getting Hershey her breakfast and that was when Dad finally gazed up.
“Don’t allow her to make a mess in there, Rosanna,” he said, before going back to his newspaper and photos. “We need to keep the house nice.”
“The house… nice?” I asked, wrestling fingers through my bedhead. “Dad, are you even hearing yourself? What are you talking about, and when was our house even for sale?”
On autopilot was what I’d say he was in those moments, hearing me but not really. Dad dampened his finger, folding off another sheet of newspaper. “It wasn’t. At least, not to the public. I put the word out in the neighborhood that I was looking for a buyer. That’s how it works around here.”
How it works around here…
“It’s a nice couple moving in,” he said, glancing up but only just. He frowned upon covering a wedding photo of him and Mom. “A nice family. They’ll take good care of the place.”
“And where will we go?” I stepped in front of him in an attempt to finally get some goddamn eye contact. He merely denied me once again, sighing.
“A hotel for now.”
My brow jumped. “A hotel?”
“Yes, and a very nice one actually. Doesn’t even feel like we’ll be staying at a hotel. It has several rooms, more of a condo style than anything else. You’ll like it. It’ll be manageable until I get us settled in our permanent place.”
“And where would that be exactly?” I folded my arms, waiting for some kind of frickin’ explanation.
“The city.” He looked up at me, finally looked up and stared me in the face. “Nothing’s final, but I got a job offer up near Chicago.”
What the fuck?
“I’d been looking for a while.” Tossing a photo, he eased his suit jacket back and slipped hands into his pockets. “The offers have just started coming in, but I plan to move to an investment firm up there.”