I nodded. “Yes. And I had to leave my job because it was too far into the city. And I haven’t found another one yet. I’ve been trying but it’s been hard to do much of anything. I’ve been really down.” My voice was quiet and soft. I barely recognized it.
I couldn’t even look them in the eye as I talked. I grabbed a pillow and hugged it to my chest so I would have something to look at.
“We could tell you haven’t been happy. We hadn’t seen you before all this, but we knew something was wrong,” Levi said. His voice was deep and even; comforting.
“I wasn’t much better even before. My family…I wouldn’t even call it a family. I never knew my dad and my mom was a drug addict, she died from an overdose when I was little. My grandmother always took care of me. She was all I had left before she died. Now I have nothing.” My voice cracked and I tried not to cry. “Besides her house, she is as good as gone. All I wanted to do was fix it, and live there because I knew she wanted me to have it. But now I can’t even do that.”
“Sorry about your family, Adley. It sounds rough. I can’t believe you’ve gone through all of that.” Tate’s voice was so soft and caring, I didn’t even want to meet his eyes.
“Yeah, really…but why can’t you finish the house? There are barely two weeks left.” Levi said.
I huffed and the feeling of defeat came flooding back to me. I shook my head, I couldn’t say it yet. Levi came closer to me and knelt in front of me. He rested his hand on my knees and tilted my chin up so I was looking in his eyes.
“I know how you feel, Adley. Like everyone else in your family didn’t make it, so you won’t either. I felt the same way for a long time. My parents, they gave me up before I was even one. I grew up in foster care and watched everyone else get adopted. I thought I was just destined to be unwanted, to be broken. But it wasn’t true. I made something of myself, I fix things now and I love my job. You’ll find something you love too and you don’t have to do it alone. Tate and I, we are yours.”
I lost it then and the tears flowed freely. Levi poured himself out to me, opened his heart to me and it meant so much I could barely contain myself. He sat next to me and I felt two arms around me, Tate was beside me in a flash and they both held me as I cried.
“Shh, hun. It’s okay. You can let it out.” Levi kissed the top of my head.
Tate rubbed my back and wiped my tears away.
“We’re here for you, Adley. You can tell us anything,” Tate said.
I waited until my sobs died down and then I tried to speak.
“The money my grandmother left me. It isn’t enough to cover the rest of the expenses. My lawyer was the one who called me to tell me I had to make a decision. But I know I have to finish the house, I just don’t know how to pay for it. And I feel like this is all my fault because I let her live in such bad conditions to begin with.”
“You can’t blame yourself for that, Adley. Your
grandmother was her own person.”
“But still, I didn’t come here. We always met halfway, I should have showed up. Random check ins or something. I can’t do anything about that now, but I have to figure out how to take out a loan or something to finish paying for it. But I know that won’t come in time either.” I huffed and tried to gather my thoughts. I was freaking out. And I broke down in front of them.
But it somehow felt better knowing that everything was out in the open. I had been honest and now I had to wait for the backlash.
“Relax, Adley. You don’t have to take all of that on. Your grandmother, she would never blame you for anything like that.”
I nodded as I thought. She was always very strong willed in that way. “She was always really stubborn. She might have told me to mind my own business.” I laughed humorlessly. I shook my head at the memory of her.
I had quite a few good ones. From me back in high school, and when I graduated and she forced me to wear her favorite dress of mine. I didn’t stand a chance. Even when I offered to move closer, she wouldn’t let me. She told me I should enjoy the city.
“See? Things happen the way they do for a reason. My dad taught me that, he always believed everything had a purpose.”
“He sounds nice.” I sniffled.
“He would have liked you.”
“Would have?” I glanced at him. He smiled sadly.
“He died a few years ago.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
The emotions in the room were too thick. Too heavy. I didn’t want to revel in them anymore.
“And you can finish the house,” Levi said.
“How?” I turned to him.