Page 16 of The Fifth Avenue Apartment

Thomas cleared his throat and looked a bit uncomfortable for a moment. “Well, that’s actually up to Sophie. Penny has left that property to her, to do whatever she wishes with it. She hopes that she might decide to stay. She has also left Sophie her bank account which has funds to cover the monthly maintenance charges for the apartment for about a year.”

Sophie’s mother’s mouth fell open. “She left it to Sophie? Just to Sophie?”

Thomas nodded. “She was very clear with her wishes. And she made this change several years ago. She knew how much Sophie loved living in the city. And it was her hope that she might want to continue doing so. But she doesn’t have to.”

“Well, of course she’ll want to put it on the market. That’s too much money to give up,” her mother said. She was clearly put out that Aunt Penny had left the apartment to Sophie. Sophie felt a little uncomfortable with it as well as she’d known her mother was counting on it. But she was also secretly thrilled, too. And her mother had the Hamptons estate which she would no doubt sell as soon as possible. And that was worth just as much as the Fifth Avenue apartment.

“Actually, I don’t want to sell. I will be staying in the apartment,” Sophie said.

Her mother looked at her in shock. “That’s not very practical,” she said shortly.

The lawyer smiled slightly. “Your aunt would be very happy to hear that.”

Chapter Ten

“Istill can’t believe she left this apartment to you. What was she thinking?” Sophie’s mother muttered as they returned to the apartment. Her father had been quiet for the most part but even he was growing frustrated with her mother’s complaints.

“Ethel, Penny knew Sophie loved it here and she’s always wanted to live in the city. Now she can. And it’s not like she left us nothing. The Hamptons estate is quite a property.”

“Yes, but we can’t do anything with it for a full year,” her mother sniffed.

“We can go there and enjoy it. The property will only continue to appreciate in value. We might find that we want to keep it. We could always rent it out for a few weeks each summer. That would likely pay most of the expenses and taxes for the year.”

“I don’t know about that.” Her mother didn’t sound keen on the idea of keeping it.

“And Sophie can enjoy it too. It might be nice to get out of the city now and then when it gets hot in the summer,” her father suggested.

“I’d love to do that. I haven’t been there in years,” Sophie agreed.

“I haven’t been there in ages, either,” her mother said.

“See, it will be nice. The whole family can enjoy it and then we’ll see what we want to do,” her father said.

“Yes, well, we should get on the road so we can get home before dark,” her mother said. Their bags were all packed and all they had to do was wheel them out of the apartment and get a cab to the train station. Sophie hugged her parents goodbye and walked them out to the street. Once they were in a cab and on their way, she turned to look back at her aunt’s apartment which was now hers. It seemed completely surreal.

She went back inside and walked around the apartment, taking everything in with new eyes. She still couldn’t believe that Aunt Penny had left it all to her. Sophie had never dreamed she would do that. She’d assumed it would all go to her mother and would be up for sale immediately. It was both a relief and bittersweet that she didn’t have to leave—that this apartment was now her home. Charlie walked over and rubbed against her legs, and she reached down to pet him. She’d now inherited her cat, too, and was glad for his company.

When Sophie reached her aunt’s bedroom, tears threatened to come again. She closed the door to the room. Eventually, she might make some changes, or at least change the sheets. But for now, she didn’t want to touch anything. There were three other bedrooms, she didn’t need to worry about using Aunt Penny’s room any time soon.

She went to the kitchen and made herself a cup of cinnamon tea and settled at the island with her laptop. She checked her email. She’d heard back from a few more apartments she’d applied to with invitations to go and meet her potential roommates. So far, there had been no offers. She was grateful to Aunt Penny and relieved that she didn’t have to deal with living with complete strangers.

It did seem a little strange to have this huge place all to herself, though. It felt vast and empty and without Aunt Penny’s sweet energy, it felt lonely, too. But Sophie told herself she’d get used to it soon enough. After all, Aunt Penny hadn’t minded living her by herself.

She needed to keep busy though. She looked up Kara’s number at the agency and called to let her know she was available to work again.

“Oh, that’s great news!” Kara sounded excited to hear from her. Though to be fair, Kara was high energy and always sounded excited—every assignment that she told Sophie about was always ‘an awesome opportunity and a great company’. Sophie smiled as Kara said she had something new and amazing that had just come in.

“I thought of you immediately for it since you’ve already worked there. It’s for Fulton Real Estate. Their receptionist that was on maternity leave, came back and only lasted a week. She was miserable and her husband wants her to stay home with their baby. So, they are on the hunt for a new receptionist. And they are open to temp-to-perm. They asked if you might be available. I said I’d check but I wasn’t sure if the timing would work for you as they need someone for Monday.”

“I can do it!” Sophie felt a rush of excitement. It felt meant to be.

Kara laughed. “Excellent. I’ll let them know. Do you think you might be interested in temp-to-perm? If not, they’ll probably want to start interviewing for people that want the role permanently.”

“I am very interested in that,” Sophie said.

“Fantastic. How are you doing Sophie? I know it’s been a hard week.” Kara sounded so sympathetic that Sophie felt her eyes grow damp again. She’d thought she was done crying. She took a deep breath.

“I’m good. Thanks for asking. It’s sad and I miss her, but I’ll be okay.”

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