Chapter 4 - What the House Was Worth
Janice met me at Lake Oconee the following Thursday.
I had not visited in nearly three months.
The moment I stepped onto the porch, the smell of cedar and warm pine brought Thomas back so clearly that I had to grip the railing.
There were memories everywhere.
His coffee mug used to sit beside the porch swing.
His fishing boots had once dried beside the door.
One summer, Claire had fallen asleep on his chest while he sat facing the lake.
She had been twenty-nine then, already married, but in that moment she looked eight years old again.
That memory almost made me abandon the entire idea.
Then Janice opened the kitchen pantry.
Three shelves were filled with protein powder, expensive whiskey glasses, and boxes labeled RYAN - DO NOT MOVE.
I stared at them.
“I didn’t put those there.”
Janice said nothing.
Upstairs, the closet in the master bedroom contained two of Lorraine’s dresses.
The bathroom drawer held Frank’s electric razor.
In the guest room, Ryan had installed a desk without telling me.
On the wall above it was a framed sign.
THE LAKE OFFICE
I laughed once.
It was not a pleasant laugh.
Janice watched me carefully.
“Margaret, do you want the valuation?”
“Yes.”
She handed me a folder.
I nearly dropped it.
The house and land were worth almost three times what I had spent building them.
“That much?”
“Waterfront property has climbed.”
I walked toward the window.
Selling would have been easy.
I could have signed a listing agreement that afternoon and ended everything.
But when I looked at the dock, I heard Thomas’s voice.
One day the grandkids will jump off there.
One day we’ll have everybody together.
I did not want Ryan’s greed to make decisions for Thomas and me.
“I’m not selling,” I said.
Janice nodded.
“Then what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking nobody respects something they receive for free.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
I asked what the house could earn as a furnished seasonal rental.
The number she gave me surprised me again.
By sunset, I had made my decision.
The following week, Judith reviewed a professionally managed lease.
A family from Charlotte had been looking for a lake house from July first through August fifteenth.
Dr. Benjamin Hensley, his wife Naomi, their teenage daughter, and Naomi’s elderly mother.
They had excellent references.
They would pay market rent.
A local property manager would handle everything.
The lease specifically prohibited unregistered guests.
I signed.
Then I went back to the lake house with Daniel and Ruth.
We removed Thomas’s photographs.
His workbench stayed.
So did the porch swing.
But Lorraine’s dresses went into labeled storage boxes.
Ryan’s office supplies went into another.
Every personal item belonging to Claire’s family was carefully packed and delivered to their Atlanta home.
Three hours later, Claire called.
“Mom, why are twelve boxes sitting on my front porch?”
I looked at Thomas’s empty coffee mug in my hand.
“I was cleaning.”
“Cleaning what?”
“The lake house.”
There was a pause.
“Why?”
“Because it needed cleaning.”
“Mom, please don’t move our stuff.”
Our stuff.
There it was.
I looked across the water.
“I already did.”
Claire’s voice changed.
“Ryan isn’t going to like this.”
I almost asked her when Ryan’s opinion had become more important than mine.
Instead, I said goodnight.
Before leaving, Daniel helped me change the keypad code.
The old code had been Claire’s birthday.
The new one was known only to me, Judith, and the property manager.
As we drove away, Daniel glanced at me.
“When are you telling them?”
“I’m not.”
He looked surprised.
“They’re planning to arrive next week.”
“I know.”
“Mom.”
I turned toward the lake disappearing behind the trees.
May you like
“For once, Daniel, they can discover somebody else made plans first.”
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