Page 85 of Pity Play

He snorts but doesn’t say anything else.

When my parents come back into the room, my dad looks kind of pale, but my mom seems determined. She addresses me first. “Lorelai, you did a beautiful job with the house.”

“Thank you,” I tell her. I like how her admiration feels.

“Your dad and I always knew you had a wonderful artistic flare, and we thought by letting you get the house ready for sale that you might discover a love of interior design.”

“I have,” I tell her. “In fact, I’ve been thinking about maybe taking some classes.”

“Good,” she says. “You can stay in Noah’s house in Chicago while you decide if you like it.”

“No, she can’t!” my brother shouts. “I need a paying tenant, not a freeloader.”

Nice, Noah, Way to make me like you. But I don’t have a chance to say that because my dad decides to speak up. “You can stay here, Noah.”

“Are you going to sell to me?” he wants to know.

My dad tells him, “We’ll hold off selling the house for a year until you can decide if you want to stay in Elk Lake. If you do, we’ll sell it to you next summer.”

I raise my hand and bring my parents’ attention back to me. “In this scenario, I’ll be staying at Noah’s rent free?”

“You still have to pay the utilities,” my brother snaps. But then he softens and tells our mom and dad, “Thank you. I appreciatethe help, because honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to like working here.”

“It’s going to be a big change,” my mom says. “But we believe in our kids so much that we want to do everything we can to help support you.”

This seems to be an about-face from how it felt when they originally announced they were selling. “You told me I needed to get on a career path,” I say. “And the whole time you were trying to lead me to that path?”

“Lorelai,” my dad says. “You just needed a little push, is all.”

“So, you don’t need the proceeds of this house to survive?”

My dad laughs. “Honey, I bought bitcoin when it was only five thousand a coin.”

I didn’t know that. “How many coins did you get?”

“Four,” my mom says proudly.

“And it’s recently gone over a hundred thousand,” Noah inserts. “Which means, you cleaned up!”

“We did pretty well,” my dad agrees.

“That’s amazing,” I tell them. “I appreciate your help more than you will ever know.”

My mom reaches out and takes my hand. Squeezing it, she says, “It’s what being a parent is all about. Plus, you’re worth our investment.”

And just like that, I’m moving to Chicago to go to school, Noah’s coming home, and my parents are going to play golf in Florida. I didn’t see any of these changes coming, but the truth is, I know they’re all for the best.

CHAPTER FORTY

LUKE

I’ve been back in the city for a week, and I still don’t feel like I’m in the groove of my old life. I roll over in bed when I hear my phone ring. Picking it up, I see that it’s Jim.

Jim has never called me on the phone, so my first thought is that something has happened to my dad. “Hey, man, what’s up? Is everything okay at home?”

“All’s well here,” he says. I immediately breathe a sigh of relief.

I still don’t know why he’s calling. “How’s work?”

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