Chapter 10
“Auntie Tylerrrrr…. Time to wake up.” Avery sings from across the room, stirring me awake.
I open one eye and find Juliet hanging onto the couch, inches from my face, drool dripping from her face and hands.
“Hi sister.” I say to the sweet smiling baby in front of me.
She smiles in return and then grabs a handful of my hair with an adorable chuckle.
“Okay, I’m up.” I say, wincing. I gently untangle my now drool covered hair from her hand before sitting up on the couch. No wonder Avery gets no sleep. Avery moves to scoop her up just as I shuffle to the bathroom. Moments later, I’m settled back on the couch with a coffee, holding it close to my chest when Avery and Juliet reappear. It’s just after 7:00 am.
“Morning,” Avery says as she rounds the corner and buckles Juliet into her car seat carrier that’s sitting on the floor.
“Good morning.” I reply with a yawn. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair and off your couch soon. I just didn’t have the energy to go to my parents’ last night. I needed at least a night before telling them that my life is a complete shit show.”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want and you know that.”
“I know and I love you, but your couch is terrible.” I smile.
“That’s for a good reason.” She says, “It keeps the amount of company down. At least until I can get the moat built around my property.”
I stop and picture Avery’s house surrounded by a moat full of alligators with a drawbridge, right in the middle of Fawn Creek. Honestly, it sounds like an introverts dream. Really, it’s more something I would enjoy that she would. She loves to pretend to hate people, but she can’t stand to be home in the quiet for more than a day. “You’re a genius. I’ll remember that for my next place.”
She taps the side of her head and winks.
“Really.” I say, “Thank you for letting me crash here last night.”
“It’s no problem at all.” She shrugs as she throws Juliet’s bag over her shoulder. “Let me know how it goes with your parents, though.”
“Will do.” I nod and take a long sip of my coffee. I need to get that done sooner rather than later. If I hurry, I can catch my dad before he leaves for work.
I lean forward and press my parents’ doorbell, anxiety coursing through my veins. I feel like a child knocking on a stranger’s door, anxiously waiting for them to answer so I can retrieve my baseball from their backyard. If they knew I was coming, I would just walk in, but the last thing I want to do is walk in and scare them. Or find my dad walking around naked. I shake my head, frantically trying to clear that thought from my brain. Living here with them again is going to be terrifying to say the least, but hopefully Avery is right and it’ll just be through the summer. My breath hitches just as Mom swings open the screen door.
“Tyler! What are you doing here? Are you okay?” She looks worried and I’m sure my tear-streaked face doesn’t help. My mom’s expression seems to give my body permission to let go and I do.
Immediately, my face is covered in a steady stream of tears. Mom holds the door open wider and motions for me to come inside. “Come here. What happened?”
I follow her inside and plop down on the couch, pulling a throw pillow into my lap and clutching it to my chest. “Is Dad still home?” I ask between sniffles.
Within minutes, the three of us are settled in the living room with a box of Kleenex in my lap while I tell them all about my weekend from hell.
“I don’t know what to do. My entire life has turned upside down in the last 24 hours and I feel like a failure.” I breathe out heavily. “Everything was under control and just the way I wanted it, but now it’s just… gone.” I bury my face in my hands. The tears are flowing faster now and my breathing is more labored. “I’m almost thirty, single, and homeless.” Slowly, I turn towards my parents. “I know you guys enjoy being empty nesters, but can I stay here until I figure out what to do next? It won’t be long, I promise.”
“Actually.” My dad begins. “I think I have a better solution.” He says, before getting up from the couch and moving towards the kitchen.
I turn to face my mom. “What is this about?” I ask, almost afraid to find out.
Before my mom can respond with anything more than a wink, my dad reenters the room. “Now Tyler, of course, you are more than welcome to stay here with us if you want to. We love you and would never turn you away. However, last week we picked up some paperwork from Hazel’s safe deposit box. Last night, we finally had time to sort through it when we found she named you as the person to inherit her house, as well as half of the money from her estate. The money will take some time to travel through legal hoops, but really there is no reason you couldn’t move into the house now.” He says with a smile. “The house isn’t much, and it could use some updates, but with a fully paid off mortgage, I bet you could make it work.” He ends with a wink.
I shake my head. “I don’t understand. Why would Hazel have left the house to me?” My eyes brim with tears once again. I haven’t lived in Fawn Creek since I graduated from high school. Hazel was very familiar with the fact that I had no intentions to come back to my hometown. It made no sense for her to leave it to me to deal with, instead of leaving it to my parents who live right down the street.
“Maybe she was hoping you’d come back to Fawn Creek one day.” Mom offers. “Hazel always wanted nothing else than to see you live out your dreams and be happy.”
“This is so much to wrap my head around.” I say. “It’s unbelievable that she would do that for me.” I snatch a tissue from a nearby box and blot my eyes. My mind is running in a million different directions. How did I walk into this house with my world crumbling around me, only to be leaving with this incredible lifeline offered to me by Hazel?
After a quick call to my boss, to use a personal day while I get settled into my new home, my dad and I venture over to Hazel’s house to see what it will take to get me settled in.
While dad goes to inspect the exterior of the house, I experience a quick struggle with a janky doorknob and I push my way inside. Running my hand along the wall in the dark, solely working by memory, I locate the light switch and illuminate the room. Thankfully, my parents hadn’t yet disconnected the utilities. One less thing for me to deal with right now.
I move through the little house slowly and take everything in. There are two bedrooms, one bathroom, a dated kitchen, a small dining/living room combo, and a small utility room. After my grandfather’s death, Grandma Hazel sold her home in the country and moved in here. She specifically chose this place because of the small stature. Her country home had sat on twenty acres and the chores were never ending. The amount of work was manageable when my grandpa was alive. He enjoyed moving and working in the yard. Hazel, on the other hand, did not. She just wanted a small space she could pay a local kid twenty dollars to mow twice a month, and to be close enough to walk around town if she wanted to.
This was the first place Hazel had ever lived on her own. She moved out of her parents’ house and directly into that farmhouse with Grandpa Karl after their wedding. Over the years, she had made that farmhouse homey, but she did everything with him in mind. It was his house too, after all. So, she decorated with lodge like touches to work around his deer and elk mounts hanging on the walls. When she moved into her new place in her fifties, she started from scratch and she made this place just as unique as she is. Hazel, who despised being called Grandma, was so young at heart. No matter her age, she was always far from old. Every inch of this house reminds me of her funky, eclectic self.
Every decorative piece in the house was carefully chosen, and always unique. It’s been this way for as long as I can remember. Most people decorate their houses following trends, but not her. What was trendy was never a concern to her. She was more concerned about surrounding herself with the things she loved. Every week, she would venture to a surrounding town in search of treasures at local thrift stores and garage sales. We never knew what she might find. She might bring home a random ceramic rabbit one day and a collection of old whiskey bottles to use as vases the next. Somehow, while most of us never quite understood her vision, she always did. She made it fit right in with her decor, almost as if that piece was made for her. This resulted in a light and airy space filled with funky feminine touches everywhere. And now, it’s all here for me to sort through. Thanks Hazel.
Just then, Dad steps into the entryway and interrupts my walk through Hazel’s antique store. He smiles softly. I’m sure after dealing with me throughout my teen years, he is terrified of being alone with me post breakup. Who can blame him? I cry far too easily, and I don’t blame him for treading lightly. “I walked all around the yard. Everything looks good out there. I think you’ll be fine to move in today if you want to. It really shouldn’t take too much to turn this into a place that you can call home.”
I nod. “I think this’ll be perfect while I try to decide where to go next.” My eyes move to meet his. “Just please remember, I don’t plan to stay in Fawn Creek forever. This is just a pit stop while I try to figure out what to do next.”
“Well, then what I would do is clean this place up, empty it out and do some updates. Then, when you are ready to get back out of here, put it on the market. The money you make, plus your inheritance, will be plenty to help you buy a new place somewhere else.” He pauses. “Maybe by the time you’re done here, you will know what you want to do. And if not, it doesn’t matter because no one is making you go anywhere.”
I ponder on what he says. “You’re right. I think a good reset is exactly what I need, and this is probably the best place for it to happen.” I say, agreeing with him. “But don’t be surprised if I am gone by the end of summer.”
Dad hugs me. “Don’t be surprised if you fall in love with Fawn Creek and decide to stay forever.” He whispers.
Doubtful.
Avery pushes through the front door and steps around the mountain of bags in the center of my living room. She plops onto the couch in a huff and shakes her head. “I can’t believe you fit your entire life into the back of a Honda Accord.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, I was selective.” I frown, looking down at my heap of personal effects. “Basically, I only took my clothes, books and what I can’t replace. I sold all of my furniture and household stuff when I moved in with Elliott years ago. That house was pretty small, so I tried to be very selective about what I brought in. Honestly, I was a borderline minimalist.”
“Well, don’t worry.” Avery says with a chuckle as she stands and moves around the room. “For every item on the planet that you resisted buying in the last few years, Hazel bought seven.” She picks up a clown cactus pot from a shelf and holds it up dramatically, giving it a side eye. “What are you going to do with all this…. stuff?”
I raise a brow and swipe the vase from her hand. The clown is holding his pants open and a very dead cactus is poking out from the top of his waistband.
“First off, I’m being buried with this, so be careful with it.” I say with a smirk before swooping it out of her hand and putting it back on the shelf. “It just needs a new plant. I don’t know about the rest.” Even for such a small house, there is a lot to sort through. That’s going to be a huge job by itself.
“Was your mom upset Hazel left the house to you and not her?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. Mom actually did a good job today. Normally she adds to my anxiety, but today she was everything I needed in a mom. Maybe she’s just excited to have me home for a while.”
“So,” Avery takes one more look around the room, “What’s the plan here?”
I shrug. “Clean this place up, paint and get it on the market. I think I should be able to knock it all out by the end of summer.”
“Or… you could clean it up, paint and stay in Fawn Creek forever.” She winks. I knew it wouldn’t be long before she tried to talk me into settling down here.
I roll my eyes and rip open the first trash bag of clothes, emptying it onto the floor. “Fawn Creek is charming. I will give you that.” I say, beginning to sort my clothes into piles. “But city life has spoiled me. In the city, I can get my food and groceries delivered. Things are open past 8:00 at night and I can go outdoors without running into people I went to preschool with. Plus, my parents don’t know my every move.”
“The gas station is open til nine.” She adds with a smirk. “Besides, there are plenty of opportunities to stay out after 8 pm. Take this weekend, for example.”
I try to recall what she’s talking about, but I come up empty. “What’s going on this weekend?”
“Duh… It’s Mayfest.” she says, eyeing me suspiciously.
I frown. “Damn. I really should have hung out with Elliott for one more week.” I say dryly. The last thing I want to do is spend a weekend surrounded by the entire community. By this afternoon, word will already be around town that I’m back and I can only imagine the stories people are going to come up with.
She rolls her eyes. “I already got you a ticket for the Friday Night concert so you aren’t getting out of it. On Saturday morning, we can go check out the food and craft vendors.”
“Or,” I begin. “We could skip it and I could stay home all weekend reading a book.” I say, pulling a book from my pile and waving it in the air.
Avery plucks the book from my hand. “First off, no. I haven’t had my best friend at a Fawn Creek Festival in years. You aren’t getting out of this, and I know you would be so mad at yourself if you missed getting to see your favorite singer performing downtown.” The fact that she knows me well enough to know I need to see this concert warms my heart. I have to admit, I need a little bit of fun in the middle of all this chaos.
“Besides, you’ll have that read before Friday, anyway.” She shrugs.
“It’s like you know me.”
“Just a little.” She says, plopping the book on the end table, on top of an ivory doily.
“If nothing else, I’m predictable.”