“How is she doing?” I walked into Sinn Manor and found Jenny sitting in the living room—staring at her laptop.
“She got up for a little while and ate dinner. I took that as a good sign.” She looked up at me. “Did you have fun on your date?”
“Date?” I blinked in surprise and walked over to make a drink.
“You got a text message and suddenly you had plans for the evening. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out…” She leaned back against the couch.
“It didn’t go as planned…” I sat down across from her and took a sip of my whiskey. “I found out where Dad has been staying.”
“Oh?” She blinked in surprise. “Where?”
“He’s turned our grandfather’s beachfront villa into his love nest—or something like that.” I exhaled sharply.
“We should go there.” She leaned forward. “We need to tell him what a bastard he is—he needs to know what this has done to Mom.”
“Do you really think he cares?” I took a sip of my whiskey.
“No…” Jenny’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sure he doesn’t give a damn that Mom spent most of the day crying.”
“We need to start packing things up tomorrow.” I looked up and sighed. “I really don’t want to end up in a situation where Mom is literally evicted from her home…”
“All I need is my toothbrush.” Jenny shrugged. “Screw the rest of it…”
“Really? I was thinking that we should strip this place down to bricks, boards, and drywall.” I chuckled under my
breath. “We can dump what we don’t want in Carson Bay.”
“Tempting…” A hint of a smile formed on Jenny’s lips. “I’m sure that would just antagonize him. It’s not worth it…”
“You’re probably right.” I nodded.
I really need to confront him, but I need to do it alone. My little sister doesn’t need to hear what I’m going to say…
The next morning mom came downstairs early and started making breakfast just like she always did. She ate a couple of bites and drank some coffee while I tried to explain how important it was for us to get started with the packing. She was still in shock—my therapist would have probably prescribed her a few pills and told her to get lots of rest. I took the day off work and decided to hire a moving company to help since it would be easier than trying to convince my mother that it was important not to waste any time. At some point, she was going to recover from the shock—she was going to realize that her husband was an asshole—and regret leaving anything in Sinn Manor that mattered to her.
“We should probably make sure we get all of the photo albums…” Jenny looked towards the albums that were lined up under the television in the living room. “She’ll want those.”
“Yeah.” I nodded and walked over to one of the movers.
I’m sure there are plenty of photos of our father in there, but we can sort that out later…
Over the course of several hours, we filled the moving truck with boxes. My mom came downstairs a few times and pointed out the things she wanted. I took that as a good sign and indication that she understood what we were doing. In the late afternoon, after school was over, some of Jenny’s friends showed up to help with her room. We didn’t need them since we had a team of movers, but she seemed to like having them around. A couple of them remarked that it was the first time they had ever been to Sinn Manor. That didn’t surprise me much. I never invited my friends to hang out at my house either—I had no interest in letting them see how much of an asshole my father was if he went on one of his tirades.
“Do you need any help in here?” One of Jenny’s friends walked into the downstairs office while I was packing things up. “We’re all done with your sister’s room.”
“You can carry some boxes if you want.” I motioned to them. “What was your name again? Gavin?”
“All of my friends call me Bolt.” He chuckled under his breath and reached for a box.
“That’s right.” I nodded. “You’re the guy who’s breaking all of the records at Carson Cove High.”
“The ones that matter.” He grinned. “Did you play football?”
“Nah.” I shook my head back and forth. “I was too busy working.”
“Ah, I can understand that.” He nodded.
“Have you started looking at colleges yet?” I picked up a few things and started placing them in one of the boxes. “I assume you won’t be staying in Carson Cove after you graduate next year, right? Carson Cove University isn’t exactly known for its football program.”