Chapter 17 #4
“I haven’t lived here for a while,” she shared. “So, you wouldn’t be kicking me out. Yet if you’ve got a place where I could stay so I could save a little money on rent, I would appreciate it. I am kind of broke. Buying four new tires and paying for a tow about did me in.”
“I understand,” Sterling said. “For someone already pretty broke, you sure had a line of relatives trying to get money off you, even if they had to steal it.”
“Right?” she confirmed. “I’ve never understood how they figured out that the student loan proceeds were theirs.
It was as if they thought I was just getting piles of free money and letting it gather dust in my apartment.
” She shook her head, frowning. “I could never get them to understand that’s not how it worked. ”
“They didn’t understand because they didn’t want to understand,” Lindsey suggested.
“Speaking of money,” Sterling interjected, “my lawyer found my mother’s accounts.
They were unclaimed, so gaining a bit of interest over all these years.
My lawyer’s proving to them that she died and left everything to me.
So I should have access shortly. I really need that to properly fix up this place. ”
“Wow, that’s great,” Lindsey exclaimed.
Sterling nodded. “That’s not all. Thankfully the bank paid the fees for the retirement home, but they didn’t allow Penny to get into Grandpa’s money either. So we got his accounts unfrozen, and the retirement home is now under scrutiny. So everything is working out.”
Chelsea squealed at the good news. “About time that the good guys won here.”
Everyone else agreed too.
Lindsey nodded. “It is all good now. So, if you will grab the pizzas, Chelsea, I’ll head inside and see if I can sort out anything else for us to eat. We’ll have a celebration—or at least try to. Then we may have to make some arrangements to clean out this place,” she added, as she looked around.
“Yeah, you’re right there. A lot of work needs to be done,” Chelsea stated. “Somehow I have a hunch you won’t have any problem taking care of it.” She smirked at Sterling.
“No, I won’t,” he declared, with a smile, “and it will be a joy to do. I’ve thought about this place for a very long time, and now at least my mom is at rest.”
Chelsea stopped at that comment, her hand over her mouth. “She’s the victim in all this that we keep forgetting, isn’t she?”
“Yes, though she would hate to be thought of as a victim,” he clarified.
“I never really heard much about your mother, so I never … I had no idea. I guess I should have seen it.”
“Nobody should have to see all that hate in their own mother,” he said.
“It just sucks, but that’s not today’s issue,” Lindsey stated firmly. “Go grab the pizzas, and I’ll head into the house. Oh, and we have your bookbag, so you might as well stay here tonight, if you’re up for it.”
“I would love to,” she said warmly. “I don’t have very long to go in school. I just need to finish my practicum. Then I’ll have to find a job.”
“It’s fine,” Sterling told her. “You’ve got a home here until you’re done and ready to go. We can talk about that afterward, when you decide where you want to get a job and all that.”
Joy lit up her face. “Thank you for that. I’ve been worried about what I would do for housing before I started bringing in a regular paycheck. I didn’t want to start a new job living in my car for a month.”
“Never. And thank you for standing up for me,” he shared. “It’s been a long time since I felt as if I had family who had my back. My military family has, of course, but my real family has been different, and I appreciate it very much.”
She looked over at him and nodded. “I guess that’s one of the hardest things, isn’t it?”
“It absolutely is,” he agreed, “going from having a loving family to having nothing, plus feeling dumped wasn’t an easy time. Especially knowing my mom was gone.”
Tears were in Chelsea’s eyes as she walked over, gave him a great big hug, and said, “Welcome home.”
He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big hug back. “Thanks. Now you’d better get that pizza before things get out of hand here.”
She laughed, hopped into her vehicle, and drove off. He looped an arm over Lindsey’s shoulders and walked with her back toward his grandpa, who was looking a bit lost.
“That turned out better than I thought possible,” Lindsay noted. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay,” Sterling said, “just a little overwhelmed with all the new details at the moment.”
“Not to mention the fact that you now know what happened to your mother.”
At that, his grandpa looked over at him and sighed. “I don’t even know how to deal with that one.”
“I think the only thing we can do,” Sterling shared, as he walked closer and gave him a hug, “is to take it one day at a time and to realize there will be good days and bad days. However, they will no longer be the bad days that we previously had, and that is a good thing.”
His grandpa nodded. “I’ll need a lift back to the home soon too.”
“We can get you a lift back there, but, if you want, you can also move in here to our home.” When his grandfather looked at him hopefully, Sterling smiled.
“The way I see it, we lost a lot of years, and tomorrow isn’t promised.
So we should make the best of what we have and make up for lost time together,” he announced.
“I remember somebody who used to go fishing with me.”
“I haven’t been fishing in a long time, son,” he muttered. “I gave it up when I lost my fishing partner.”
Sterling stopped and stared at the old man, and they both had tears in their eyes.
“If you’ll have me, I would absolutely love to move home.”
“Tonight you stay. Tomorrow,” Sterling announced, wrapping an arm around Grandpa’s frail shoulders.
“Tomorrow we’ll get your stuff and get you out of that retirement home,” he declared.
“It seems this was all meant to be.” He looked over to see tears in Lindsey’s eyes.
He smiled at her and asked, “You sure you want to take all this on?”
She nodded immediately. “Are you kidding? Yes, I’m sure. And I also know that my grandfather would absolutely love to meet both of you.”
Sterling nodded. “In that case, we need to get these guys together.”
She laughed. “If fishing is involved, it might work out very well.”
Grandpa looked at her and asked, “Does he fish?”
“He hasn’t had anybody to fish with since my mom died. They fished together all the time.”
“You know,” Grandpa began, “a really nice little fishing hole is just at the back of the property. We used to get it stocked all the time, and I’m sure it hasn’t been fished in a very long time. So we should probably go out there and take a look and see if any fish are still there.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Lindsey replied, with a laugh.
And together, they slowly walked to the farmhouse where the whole gang was waiting for them. As soon as they walked inside, Sterling stopped, stared, and tears came to his eyes.
“Dear God,” he muttered, “it’s been a long time, but, man, this feels like home.”