“That’s very impressive, Jamie.”
“Yeah. Speaking of property value, do you know your old house is worth about three-quarters of a million these days?”
I almost choked on the gum I was chewing.
He glanced at me. “You okay?”
I nodded. I discarded the gum on a Kleenex and pocketed it for later disposal. “That’s a lot of money. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The front yard alone extends to the main street. Plus it shares a fence with the school.”
“I heard the school offered to buy the old house for expansion. We got more kids coming to Bellwood, and the school wants to build more classrooms and a new gym.”
“Ah. I remember the gym was kind of run down.”
“It was rundown. The floor was uneven. The bleachers were a deathtrap. It got worse when I became a senior. One year, the gym floor was flooded, and we couldn’t use the gym for basketball anymore. We had PE on the courtyard after that.”
“Seems like a building hazard to me. They shouldn’t be using the gym at all.”
“My sentiments exactly. I don’t know what they do for gym these days. By the way, rumor has it that your Aunt Rebecca has been offered a cool half mil by school, but she flatly refused it. She asked for more.”
Five hundred thousand dollars for the house where I was born and raised. “I can’t blame her if the home’s value is more than that. Aunt Rebecca has always been a careful spender. I heard she managed mom’s finances after I moved out.”
“Doesn’t it bother you that your aunt’s taking over your parents’ house?”
I sighed. “It wasn’t my house anymore. My mom disowned me when I eloped with Sam. She didn’t even want me at her funeral.”
“But did she specifically cut you out of her will?”
“I assumed she did. Isn’t that what ‘disowned’ means?” I laughed. “Honestly, when I received the news that Mom had passed, I was financially secure, so I wasn’t thinking about that at all. Aunt Rebecca told me it was my mother’s wish that I shouldn’t attend her funeral, so I didn’t. But a week after that, me and Sam went to the cemetery to pay our respects and also visited Dad’s grave.”
Jamie’s forehead creased. “You came here, but you didn’t say hello to us?”
“I was with Sam, and he didn’t seem happy to come here even though his parents also live here. Sam said he was tired of his family bugging him for money. So we made our trip quick, incognito.”
“So much for Mr. Charitable.”
“Sam is quite a philanthropist, except with his relatives.”
“Are you planning on asking your aunt if your mom left you anything in her will?”
“I can’t do that. Aunt Rebecca won’t be happy if I start skulking around asking about the house.”
Jamie’s brows furrowed again. “Who cares about her happiness? If your mom didn’t specifically state that she left everything to your aunt, that house is yours. It might come in handy considering your current situation.”
I thought about it for a minute. That house wasn’t the childhood house I wanted to remember and cherish forever. Ever since Dad passed away, that house had been a prison to me. My mom had unconsciously guarded me like a Rottweiler with a bone, fearing one day I’d leave her too. But she didn’t realize the strength of my rebellious teenage tendencies, and she lost me sooner than she thought.
I couldn’t jump off the wagon and take my dibs on the house. My mother had gone to such lengths to prevent me paying my final respects to her—long before she died—she wouldn’t want me to do something that would make her roll in her grave.
“I don’t want the house,” I said firmly. “I walked away from Sam’s millions, and I’m not going to hassle my aunt now that I’m down on my luck. If push comes to shove and I don’t have anywhere to go, I could always go to a women’s shelter. I volunteered and did charity work for a women’s welfare foundation in New York for years. I’m sure they won’t deny me when I need their help.”
“That’s crazy talk!” Jamie looked scandalized. “I’d never let you out on the street like that. In fact, I’m kind of happy you don’t have anywhere else to go. That way, you’ll never leave us again.”