Page 50 of January

“Wasshe, though? I get your connection to this place. I just don’t feel it. You were inside Mom when she still lived here. Maybe that’s why you feel like you need to be here to work through this.”

“Maybe,” she said. “But you can go home, Jolie. If you don’t need to be here, I get it.”

“Will you be okay, though? On your own?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Kyle replied. “I have a lot of reading to do to keep me occupied. I don’t know if they’ll reveal her secrets or just what she had for breakfast every day for, like, forty years, but I need to go through them to find out.”

“Do you think these will tell you what really happened between her and Mom?”

“I hope so.”

“What if it’s bad news?”

“What exactly is bad news in this situation? Mom already blames me for her leaving.”

“What if it turns out Mom was telling us the truth the whole time, and we’ve assumed she’s been lying? What if it confirms that Grandma kicked her out because she got pregnant?”

“Then, that’s what happened, and at least I’d know,” Kyle said on a sigh. “And it would suck, but I want to know what happened.”

“You’ll be here alone, Ky. I don’t know that I like that. I should stay.”

“No, you should go home. I’ll be okay. Really.”

“There’s always Melinda.”

“Melinda?”

“Yes, the woman you like and asked out.”

“Shut up.” Kyle laughed.

“You could call her if you need someone to talk to in person. I’ll just be a phone call away, though.”

“I know. I justdon’tknow if I can really rely on her now.”

“Did she tell you that she didn’t want to see you again?”

“No, of course not.”

“She seems like a good person, Kyle. I don’t think she’d ditch you if you can get past the whole thing where you asked her out and she said no. That’s just your pride.”

“No, it’s more than that,” she said. “It’s disappointment and wondering if something could’ve been real between us, even though we just met.”

“But you’re sticking around for a while, right?”

“Yeah, until this gets figured out.”

“Kyle, do you know how long that’s going to take?” Jolie asked. “Her estate is fairly straightforward, but if you’re staying for clean-up and repairs, that’s months, not weeks or days.”

“I haven’t thought of what I’ll stay here for and when I’d leave yet,” Kyle replied.

“All I’m saying is that if the only reason Melinda said she didn’t want to go out with you is that she thought youwere leaving next week, you’re not now. You’re probably staying for at least a month or so, right?”

“Maybe longer. I don’t have to go home to work, and you have my apartment key to check on the place.”

“I can even ship you some more clothes and stuff if you need me to,” Jolie replied. “What I’m saying is that if you really like her and think there’s something real, you should ask her out again. Tell her you’re staying.”

“It’s a few months, though. Wouldn’t that just make it worse? I leave, and we’re a couple or something, if everything goes well.”

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