Chapter 5 - The Buyers at the Door
Jenna moved first, rushing toward the coffee table to gather wedding-white napkins, wineglasses, and the trail of mess her twins had scattered. “You cannot show the house like this,” she hissed. “We’re in the middle of lunch.”
“No,” I said. “You’re in the middle of leaving.”
My father stood slowly. “Mason, lower your voice.”
“My voice is fine.”
“It is not fair to punish everyone because Jenna misspoke.”
“She didn’t misspeak. She said what all of you have been acting like for months.”
The twins stopped running at last, confused by the adult silence. One of them looked at the broken sailboat and finally seemed uncertain. Jenna pulled him behind her, not because he was in danger, but because she knew children were useful shields in rooms where adults had behaved badly.
My realtor, Dana, stepped inside with a professional smile that faded as soon as she saw the room. Behind her stood a couple in linen clothes, polite and uncomfortable. Dana looked at me. “Dr. Cole, should we reschedule?”
“No,” I said. “Give us five minutes.”
Jenna’s eyes widened. “You’re really doing this in front of strangers?”
“You made my child feel like a stranger in front of family.”
That shut her up.
My mother walked toward Eli, finally noticing the boy she had ignored when the mast cracked. “Sweetheart, Grandma didn’t mean—”
Eli stepped back behind me before she finished. It was a small movement. Quiet. Instinctive. But my mother saw it, and for once, the expression on her face did not have an answer ready.
I picked up Eli’s cardboard box, then handed it to him carefully. “Go wait by the car with Noah.”
He looked at me. “Are we still watching stars?”
I crouched in front of him. “Yes. Just not here.”
May you like
His fingers tightened around the broken mast. “Can we fix it?”
I looked at the boat pieces in the box, then at my family standing frozen in my living room. “We can build a better one.”
