Chapter 37 Day In and Day Out
DAY IN AND DAY OUT
“This house is going to go fast,” Anya told her clients. This was the fourth on her list to show. She’d shown them five others prior to today.
Two they’d made offers on and lost. They dragged their feet and came in low every single time, causing them to lose the chance to even bid on two others.
“They all go fast,” Cole said. He turned to his wife. “What do you think, Whitney?”
“I love it,” Whitney said. “It’s the perfect location. The kitchen needs some love, but we can do that in time. Everything else checks the boxes.”
“I don’t know,” Cole said. “I don’t want to do much work. If you love it that much, we should come in under asking so we’ve got room to do that work.”
“I wouldn’t advise that,” Anya said. “It’s a seller’s market. You’ve seen that already. There isn’t a lot of inventory and coming in low on a house that just hit the market last night is never good. We are the eighth showing today.”
This house was being listed by another agent in her firm. She knew they were taking offers for forty-eight hours before they decided.
She couldn’t be that way, but some agents loved it. The clients too. It allowed them to pick and choose the best offer rather than jumping on the first good one.
“So that means it’s not going,” Cole said.
“No,” she said. “It means they are gathering all offers and will decide on the best one, not the first.”
“They can do that?” Whitney asked.
“They can. If you want this house, you need to decide what is a strong offer.”
“I don’t want to pay more than asking,” Cole said. “That’s stupid. If they wanted more, they should have asked for more. Sounds like they are being greedy.”
She felt the same way but wouldn’t voice that.
“If you love it and want a shot, I’d advise you to come in strong with a fast closing. One thing you have going for you is you don’t have a contingency to sell another home.”
“We need to think about it,” Cole said.
“Come on,” Whitney said. “You do this all the time and we end up with nothing.”
Anya didn’t need to say the same words. “You know how to reach me if you decide to make an offer on any of the houses you saw today.”
“We’ll let you know by tomorrow,” Cole said.
She walked out with the couple, locked the house and returned to her car.
At least she could get these showings done during the day since both Whitney and Cole were on vacation this week.
She found she loved having her nights with Matt. Even if he had work to do, she left him alone to get it done and entertained herself watching TV or cooking dinner. She’d even gone to the gym there.
It’s not like she was moving in, but she enjoyed staying a few nights a week.
Her phone rang, and the number to the rehab facility came up. They didn’t call her. Not unless they couldn’t reach her mother.
“Hello,” she said, her heart ready to bolt like a bunny with the hounds let loose.
“Is this Anya Emerson?”
“Yes, it is.”
“This is Madelyn Watson. I’m your father’s case manager. We have an issue here at the home with him and can’t reach your mother.”
“What’s going on?” she asked, turned the blinker on and headed in that direction.
“Your brother was here earlier and has worked your father up. We asked him to leave, but your father won’t calm down.”
“My brother is in town? EJ Emerson?”
“Yes,” Madelyn said. “He was here for about an hour. Your father said he had a son and we let him in. We didn’t think there’d be a problem. Then your father got worked up and we asked your brother to leave. We are struggling to calm him. Your mother has asked we don’t medicate him for it.”
“I’m five minutes away,” she said. “I’ll try my mother again. I think she had an appointment this afternoon. Her phone might be off.”
She hit the gas to get there faster.
“Thanks,” Madelyn said. “I enjoy sitting with your father. He reminds me of my grandfather some. I thought I could calm him, but it wasn’t working.”
“Can you let him know I’m on the way, please?”
“I will.” Madelyn hung up and Anya found her brother’s number in her phone scrolling through the dash and called him. Of course he didn’t answer. Asshole.
“I know you’re in town and just left Dad all worked up, EJ. Call me back now.”
She called her mother and got her voicemail and left a message to call right away, that Dad was worked up, but she was taking care of it.
No reason to leave a message EJ was in town.
She knew her mother was going to reach out to her brother, but she hadn’t heard a word that he’d replied.
She pulled into the parking lot, parked in the first spot she saw, shut the car off and speed-walked toward the entrance.
She gave her name, signed, saw her brother’s name on the list and might not have noticed it if she hadn’t gotten the call, then was buzzed in.
“Dad,” she said, moving into the room at a normal pace.
She learned to not look anxious. He’d only feed off of it.
“Anya, thank God. Your brother was here trying to get me to sign something.”
“What?” she asked. She was ecstatic that he was aware enough to know who she was. The first day here, he was more confused than normal, but each day he was progressing much better than they’d hoped.
He still had his moments, sure, and thankfully now wasn’t the time for one.
“I haven’t seen your brother in over ten years,” her father said. “He comes in here like it was yesterday and wants me to sign some paper.”
“EJ moved a few years ago, Dad. Not ten years ago.”
Her father waved his hand at her. She knew it was best not to argue with him, but she always tried to correct him first to see his reaction.
“Then it wasn’t long enough since I saw him.”
She held in her laugh. “You might not be the only one that feels that way. Can you tell me what happened? What did he want you to sign?”
“I don’t know,” Elliot said. “I asked where your mother was. Why isn’t she here with me? And why am I still here? I want to go home.”
“Mom had an appointment today. She’ll be here soon.” She hoped.
“When can I go home?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I can talk to the doctor if they are around. You have to get up and walk on your own, Dad. Or you have to go in a wheelchair. Is that what you want?”
“No,” her father said. “And I’m sick of having someone in the bathroom with me. I want to take a piss and a shit on my own.”
Her father was back in some ways.
“I don’t blame you, Dad. Have you been walking to the bathroom on crutches?”
“No. They help me into the wheelchair, and then push me there. I tell them I can get on the toilet myself, but they don’t believe me.”
“How are your ribs doing?”
“They hurt,” he said. “What happened to them?”
“You broke them when you fell. That’s part of the reason you’re still here. You lack the strength to get yourself to the toilet until your ribs heal more.”
“Well, someone should have told me that. I’d start lifting weights then like I used to do.”
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry over this conversation.
Her father was lapsing in and out of the past and present.
“I’ll let them know that. Maybe they can bring some hand weights in for you to do.”
“Why am I here again?” he asked.
“You fell and broke your leg, Dad. A week ago. It’s not been that long and you’re still healing.”
Her father’s face got red. “Did EJ push me? That boy always had some evil in him.”
She put her hand on her father’s. “No. He didn’t. EJ hasn’t been around in years. You fell off the ladder in the store.”
“We sold the store months ago,” her father said.
“Not yet,” she said. “We’ll be closing in a few weeks. Then you and Mom will be free of that stress.”
“Your mother wants to travel. I promised her we would travel after selling the store. Do you know if she’s made the arrangements yet?”
A tear rolled down her cheek. This was just so hard. And her mother witnessed this day in and day out while Anya tried to stay away.
She couldn’t hide forever.
“You’ll have to ask her that.” Her phone vibrated in her purse. She pulled it out. “It’s Mom now.”
“What’s going on?” her mother asked frantically.
“Dad had a surprise visit from EJ.”
Her mother snarled. “Say no more. Are you there yet with him?”
“I’m talking to Dad right now. Do you want to talk to Mom, Dad?”
“Yes,” her father said.
“It’s fifty-fifty,” she said, handing the phone over. That was their code in front of her father that he was in and out of the past and present. They used percentages now on how good or bad he was.
“Amber, can you come and get me out of here so we can go on our vacation?”
Anya sat back while her mother talked to her father.
She knew things were going to get worse and they were.
A woman popped her head in. “Are you Anya?”
“Yes,” she said.
“I’m Madelyn. It’s nice to meet you and I’m glad you got here so quickly.”
“Do you know anything that happened? My father is talking to my mother now.”
“His voice is calmer. She has that effect on him. He talks about her so lovingly.”
“That’s nice,” she said. It never happened prior. She hoped her mother witnessed it now.
“We heard the yelling and I was close by and came in. I knew your brother was here. I’d asked the front desk who it was,” Madelyn said.
“Did my father or EJ say what he was trying to get my father to sign? Was it just a medical proxy so that he’d be able to get updates and information on his condition?”
She hoped it was nothing more than that but feared that wasn’t the case.
“I don’t know,” Madelyn said. “Your father got worked up and kept talking about money and that EJ wouldn’t get anything. That he never wanted the business before and wouldn’t have a shot of it now.”
She sighed. “Do you know if my father actually signed anything?”
Madelyn shook her head. “I don’t know. Your father didn’t say either.”
“Anya,” her father said.
She turned. “Yes, Dad.”
“Mom is on the way. She hung up.”
“Okay. Madelyn is here to see you,” she said.
“Who? Don’t let another woman in here before your mother arrives. She’ll get jealous. I don’t want to fight with her.”
Madelyn laughed and moved in. “Elliot. I’m hurt. We’ve been playing checkers together for days.”
“Oh, it’s you. I didn’t remember your name. You’re not a woman. You’re just a kid.”
Madelyn looked as if she was recently out of college. For someone so young, she was very mature and professional. At least with her father.
“Dad,” Anya said. “That’s mean. Say you’re sorry.”
Eliot shrugged. “She’s just like you, Anya. All she does is laugh when I beat her.”
She batted her eyes. When her father found time to play any game with her, she always lost because she didn’t take it seriously. She’d laugh over it too.
Those days she had when laughter was free and there weren’t a lot of worries were long gone.
“It’s okay,” Madelyn said. “Why don’t you put the baseball game on and see who is winning before Amber gets here?”
Her father turned his head, found the remote and did as he was instructed.
“I’ll stay until my mother gets here,” Anya said.
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to call a nurse in to assess him quickly. I’d just like to make sure his heart rate and blood pressure are okay.”
She nodded. “Thanks. I’ll step out for that. He doesn’t like me to see him getting care.”
Might as well leave before she was told to.
Anya moved down the hall to a waiting room and pulled her phone out to call Matt.
If there was one thing she’d learned in life, it was to be proactive.