Page 70 of Wild Dreams

I thought they kept it because they wanted to eventually come home to visit. But they'd kept it for me? "Why would you think that? I own a house." Their house didn't hold good memories for me.

Mom shrugged. "I just assumed you'd want something bigger."

"I don't want the house. If that's why you're keeping it, I think you should sell it."

My parents were quiet for a few minutes. "If you're sure?"

"I thought you were keeping it for yourselves, but since you're not—" I couldn't' believe I'd maintained it all these years because my parents thought I wanted it.

They exchanged another look. "We can put it on the market. Would you mind cleaning it out?"

"I already removed all the things I wanted to keep." There wasn't much because my parents hadn't kept anything sentimental from my younger years. They were too practical for that. And I always suspected weren't capable of nostalgia.

"Oh. We didn't realize. Are you sure you don't want to keep the furniture?"

I sighed. I didn't want to be this honest with them, but they were leaving me no choice. "I have no interest in what's in the house." It wasn't like my parents had heirlooms that meant anything.

"We were thinking of buying a house in Arizona, so this works for us."

My parents sounded excited? Were they waiting for this to happen? For me to give them permission to find a new homebase? I didn't understand that, because they'd never done anything I wanted. "I'm happy this works for you."

Except inside, my stomach was rolling. My parents never intended to come back. We didn't have a close relationship, and now we never would. If I was holding out for something different to happen, I'd need to deal with that. But now on the phone with them, I couldn't let them see how much they hurt me.

"I'll work with a Realtor to list the house. But I need you to coordinate everything else. I'm helping Scarlett with a play, and it's a holiday production. My schedule is full."

"I didn't know you were doing that, dear," Mom said.

"I wrote the play. This is the second one of mine that's being performed."

Mom smiled. "That's wonderful."

There were no offers to come see it or questions about what it was about. That was too much detail for my parents. Everything with them was surface level.

"Well, we have pickleball starting soon. We have to let you go. See you soon."

I didn't bother asking if they'd come home for the holidays. I knew they wouldn't. They weren't even coming home to deal with the house.

Not for the first time, I wondered why they had me. I think they thought it was the next thing to do. You get married and have a kid. Then they realized they weren't capable of being parents. It interfered with their life in academia. As soon as they could, they moved away.

The realization that they kept the house for me and not for themselves bothered me. I wasn't one to wallow, but I'd give myself the night. I grabbed a carton of ice cream and sat on the couch with Oakley to watch sappy holiday movies.

At least I had Oakley to keep me company. If we were in a relationship, I would have called Chance, but we weren't, so I didn't.

18

CHANCE

If I had enough energy and got off work early enough, I usually stopped by Marigold's house. I didn't like the idea of calling it a booty call because it was much more than that. I looked forward to seeing her smiling face at the end of the day. It soothed me.

My job could be upsetting at times, and I had to maintain my composure. But with Marigold, I could relax and just be myself. I didn't have to be the sheriff all the time. I could just be Chance.

I wasn't dumb enough to think she'd be okay with this arrangement for long. She deserved so much better. But I was selfish enough to enjoy it while it lasted.

On Friday night, I didn't bother texting. She'd said she was in for the night, so I knew I'd find her there.

I knocked on her door, thinking about how I'd kiss her. It was a running joke now that I couldn't resist kissing her when she opened the door. I just had to touch her.

She was a little slower coming to the door tonight, so I knocked a second time. She might have fallen asleep on the couch, but I wanted to make sure she was okay.

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