Chương 5
“There may be one option,” I said.
Kelsey looked up.
I already disliked what I was about to suggest.
That was probably why I knew it had to come with rules.
“You and the kids can stay in the carriage house for thirty days.”
Kelsey stared at me without moving.
“Ryan too?”
“That depends on whether you want him there.”
Her mouth tightened.
From downstairs came the low scrape of furniture crossing the foyer, followed by Ryan saying something I couldn’t make out.
“The carriage house has a bathroom?”
“Yes.”
“A kitchen?”
“A small one.”
“Beds?”
“One bedroom and a pullout sofa.”
She looked through the doorway at the empty room again.
“You were going to rent it?”
“No.”
“Then why does it have furniture?”
“The previous owners used it for guests.”
Kelsey studied my face.
“What are the rules?”
I almost smiled.
“You know there are rules.”
“I know you.”
That was fair.
I folded the cardboard sign once along the existing crease and handed it to her.
“Thirty days.”
She nodded.
“No mail changed to this address.”
“Okay.”
“No school forms using this address.”
Her eyes lowered.
“Okay.”
“No moving furniture into the main house.”
“Obviously.”
“No renovations, no painting, no installing shelves, no deciding the porch needs seasonal planters.”
A faint line appeared between her brows.
“I bought those already.”
“Return them.”
She exhaled through her nose.
“Fine.”
“And I need you to understand something.”
Her eyes came back to mine.
“This is not me giving Ryan another soft landing.”
“I understand.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“If he stays there, he contributes.”
“With what money?”
“Work, until he has money.”
Kelsey considered that.
“What kind of work?”
“The carriage house gutters need cleaning, there are boxes in the basement I need moved, and the fence gate drags.”
“You’re going to make him do chores?”
“I’m not going to make him do anything.”
She nodded slowly.
“He can choose not to stay.”
For the first time all day, her mouth bent in something close to approval.
“Tell him yourself.”
“I plan to.”
We went downstairs.
Ryan was standing near the front door while the moving crew strapped a bookcase against the inside wall of the truck.
His face tightened when he saw us together.
“What?”
Kelsey walked past him.
“Your sister has an option.”
Ryan looked at me.
“What option?”
“The carriage house for thirty days.”
His shoulders dropped with such obvious relief that irritation immediately rose in me again.
“Thank God.”
“I’m not finished.”
His shoulders went back up.
Mom appeared from the kitchen.
“What carriage house?”
“The detached building.”
“You have a whole other house back there?”
“It’s about six hundred square feet.”
Mom looked toward the rear windows.
“You never mentioned that.”
“I never mentioned this house.”
Dad made a small choking sound that might have been a laugh.
Mom gave him a look.
Ryan rubbed his hands over his face again.
“Okay, thirty days.”
“There are conditions.”
“Of course there are.”
His tone carried enough resentment that Kelsey snapped, “You don’t get to be sarcastic right now.”
Ryan looked at her.
She folded her arms.
“You really don’t.”
He looked back at me.
“Go ahead.”
“You help me around the property while you’re unemployed.”
He blinked.
“What does that mean?”
“It means if you’re staying here rent-free, you contribute.”
“I’m job hunting.”
“Good.”
“That takes time.”
“So does owning a house.”
He stared at me.
Kelsey said, “She’s right.”
Ryan’s head turned toward her.
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
“It’s not like I’ve been sitting around doing nothing.”
She gave him a look so flat that he stopped talking.
Dad stepped between them slightly.
“What needs to be done?”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
He nodded and stepped back.
That tiny movement mattered.
Ryan saw it too.
I continued.
“The gate needs planing or rehanging.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“Neither do I.”
“So what, we YouTube it?”
“Yes.”
He almost laughed.
“You’re serious.”
“I have a drill.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“Ryan.”
“Fine.”
“There are gutters on the carriage house, basement boxes, some yard cleanup, and I need help assembling shelves in the garage.”
“What if I get a job next week?”
“Then you go to work.”
“And the chores?”
“We figure it out.”
He studied me for a moment.
“This feels like punishment.”
“It probably does.”
“Is it?”
I considered lying.
“No.”
His eyebrows rose.
“It’s not only punishment.”
Kelsey covered a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
Ryan shot her a look.
I continued.
“You’ve spent years acting like help means someone removes the consequences from whatever happened.”
His face hardened.
“I said I’d do it.”
“I know.”
“So stop.”
I stopped.
That was harder than I expected.
He glanced toward the truck.
“I’ll do the work.”
“Good.”
“What else?”
“You tell Kelsey everything about your finances.”
His face changed.
“No.”
Kelsey went still.
“This is between us.”
“Yes,” I said.
“And because you’re trying to live on my property based on a lie that affects whether you can house your children, I need to know the lie stops.”
“You don’t get to supervise my marriage.”
“No.”
I looked at Kelsey.
“She does.”
Kelsey’s chin lifted.
Ryan said nothing.
She waited.
Finally he looked away.
“I’ll show her.”
“Today,” Kelsey said.
“Jesus, Kels.”
“Today.”
He nodded once.
Denise came in from outside with the moving foreman.
“We need a decision because they charge by the hour and apparently breathing near the truck is billable.”
The foreman looked offended.
“We charge for labor, ma’am.”
“I was joking.”
He did not look convinced.
I asked him whether the truck could be redirected to the carriage house.
He checked the driveway, then shook his head.
“Too narrow past the side gate.”
“What about unloading from here and carrying it back?”
“We can do that.”
Ryan asked, “How much?”
The foreman glanced at his tablet.
May you like
“With the reload time already added, and if we unload only what you need today, probably another nine hundred.”
Ryan’s face drained.
