Chapter 16 - Dad Sold the House
Two years after his fake death, Dad made an announcement.
“I’m selling.”
Vanessa nearly dropped her coffee.
“The house?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dad shrugged.
“Too big.”
The house that had nearly destroyed our family suddenly became just a building.
Dad bought a smaller place near the lake.
He donated much of the furniture.
Vanessa kept Mom’s kitchen table.
I kept the cedar chest.
Dad kept one thing from his office.
The sugar bowl.
I laughed when I saw it.
“Why that?”
He smiled.
“Because your phone was sitting beside it when I found out I was dead.”
At the closing, Dad handed over the keys without hesitation.
Vanessa stood beside him.
“You okay?”
Dad looked at the house.
“I spent thirty-five years thinking memories lived inside walls.”
“And?”
“They don’t.”
He put one arm around me.
Then the other around Vanessa.
“They live here.”
For once, Vanessa didn’t cry.
Neither did I.
Dad did.
May you like
We never let him forget it.
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