Chapter 24: Paid In Full

On the last day of finals I turned in my economics exam at eleven.

I walked out into the sun with a house key in my pocket.

The house was on Larch Street.

It was a narrow white place with a green door, a porch swing, and three bedrooms.

I'd signed the lease on Monday, with my own name at the top.

Beckett and Rowan were waiting on the porch steps, as agreed, and each had a gift box.

Beckett's held forty bags of tea.

Rowan's held a fire extinguisher, wrapped in a ribbon.

"You're early," I said.

"We're nervous," Beckett said.

"I'm punctual," said Rowan.

"You're nervous," I said.

"I am also nervous."

My mother's car pulled up at the curb before I could say anything else.

She got out with a bundle of white sage tied in red string.

She had a cardboard box under one arm and a letter in her other hand.

I had not told her about the letter.

"Abigail Anne," she said.

"Mom."

"The bank called me this morning."

"Did they?"

"They said my second mortgage was paid in full. By wire, at nine a.m."

She held the letter against her chest.

"Four hundred and ten thousand dollars."

"It came out of the retainer," I said. "I earned it, and it's mine, and I can do what I like with it."

"I billed Beckett half a million for a lie about a leash. I'm not ashamed of one dollar."

Beckett lifted his hand.

"I'd like to say that I've never been so glad to be invoiced."

My mother looked at me for a long time.

Then she put the letter on the porch rail, took my face in both hands, and kissed my forehead hard.

"It's walls," she said. "It's only walls."

"I know."

"You paid for a house with a lie about a dog."

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