Chapter 19 - ONE YEAR LATEROne year after the seafood dinner, Charlotte came home at 7:15 p.m.
She smelled garlic.
For one second, memory hit her.
Butter.
Crab.
Laughter.
A child eating alone.
Then Skylar yelled:
"Mom! Don't look!"
Charlotte stopped.
"That sentence has terrible history in this family."
"Mom!"
She covered her eyes.
When she entered the dining room, the table was covered with ordinary food.
Roasted chicken.
Potatoes.
Salad.
Garlic bread.
Chocolate cake.
In the center was a handwritten sign:
ONE YEAR OF OUR HOUSE BEING OUR HOUSE.
Rebecca raised a glass of sparkling cider.
"To boring paperwork."
Charlotte laughed.
"To changed passwords."
"To fraud alerts."
"To new locks."
Skylar lifted her glass.
"To nobody eating alone."
They clinked glasses.
Brandon had eventually accepted legal consequences.
Gertrude had faced hers.
Hailey's cooperation reduced some consequences but didn't erase them.
The Palm Springs condo never happened.
The Arizona dream disappeared.
The stolen money was gradually recovered.
Skylar's education account was healing.
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And the house was still standing.
More importantly, so were they.
