Page 28 of When Cardinals Appear

His throat moved as he swallowed, and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. Curiosity raged within me, but I pressed my lips together, mentally repeating the mantra that it wasn’t my business.

“What will you do with your newfound freedom?” he asked in a clear attempt at a subject change.

I decided the gracious thing would be to follow his lead. “Not much. The appraiser is coming tomorrow to look over everything. Steven expects that will take most of the day.” I glanced out the windshield. “And then I still need to find movers.”

“No luck with your search?”

I shook my head. “Everywhere is so expensive. I didn’t think it would be this difficult.”

“The offer still stands for the guys and me to come by and help.”

“I appreciate that,” I said. And I did, but if we could barely get through a short errand without arguing, I didn’t hold out much hope of doing so for an entire day. “But I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

“All right,” he said slowly. “But it might alleviate some of your stress to have that out of the way.”

I hated that he was right. The house couldn’t sell until we moved the furniture we were keeping and staged the rest. If I had any hope of getting back to the West Coast in the near future, I needed to get that over with and soon.

“You have a point.”

“But?”

He always could see right through me.

I blew out a breath. “Won’t it be awkward?”

He barked out a laugh that warmed my chest. “More awkward than it’s been so far?”

With a grin, I nodded. “Fine. You win. If you guys are free, we’re planning the move for Monday.”

He pulled into the parking lot of the shop and slid the car into a free space. “I’ll check with the guys and let you know, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” He walked me to the building and held the door. “Sam will take care of you. I’ll be in my office.” Then he scurried away without another word.

I stared after him. While we still hadn’t addressed the elephant, I considered the conversation a success. At least some if not all of the air had been cleared, and as I approached Sam, my steps were lighter.

Chapter Six

The next few days flew by. After the appraiser spent the better part of Wednesday at the house, Steven and I prepped as much as we could for the estate sale. He stopped by most nights to go through the rest of Mom’s belongings. My brother treated the process much more clinically than I did, and sometimes, I wondered if he even noticed I was in the room.

Sunday night, Steven came over to remove his share of the smaller items. We sat in the living room, packing up boxes of old books, photo albums, and a few trinkets.

“Do you remember our last trip to Disney before Mom and Dad split up?” Steven asked as he flipped through old photos.

“When we all spent a day or so in the hotel, suffering from heat exhaustion?” I shook my head. “Who could forget?”

“I know it wasn’t the best experience,” Steven said, his voice low. “But it’s one of my favorite memories.”

I stared at him as if he’d grown two heads. “Seriously? Why?”

He shrugged as he flipped another page. “Hindsight, I suppose.”

“Hindsight?”

When he looked at me, his hazel eyes were filled with sadness. “We didn’t know then it would be our last family vacation.” He looked at the album. “On the one hand, I wish it had turned out differently so we would have a better memory to share. But on the other, I think the fact it was so awful made it more meaningful, in a way. Instead of spending day after day trudging through the parks and standing in endless lines, we were forced to rest and spend time together with little to distract us.”

I moved over to the couch and settled in beside him. Tucking my knees under me, I glanced at the photos. There was one of the four of us, standing in front of Cinderella’s Castle. My parents had Mickey ears, Steven had bought a ridiculous Goofy hat, and I wore a tiara. The happy smiles hid the darkness beneath the surface. My parents’ marriage had been on the brink of divorce for years. In some ways, that vacation was their last-ditch effort to stay together. In others, it seemed a fitting farewell.

“We did play a lot of board games,” I said.

“And I’ve hated Monopoly ever since,” Steven grumbled.

---