He Made Me Hear Her, So I Took My House Back novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Movers at Seven

Odette stops the movers in front of the neighbors because the order lacks her signature. Rafael promises a locksmith on Friday and says the lender's call is out of his hands.

I went down the front steps in yesterday's green dress with my hair still wet.

Six men in gray shirts were already unloading blankets and dollies from the first truck.

My mother-in-law stood at the foot of the steps with a clipboard against her chest.

"Odette," Marisol said. "Good. You're up."

"What are they doing here?"

"Starting with the east wing. Rafael told you."

"He told me to sign or be in the way."

"Then be in the way gently, mija. People are watching."

She was right.

The man from the house next door was watering the same four roses he had watered since six.

Two women had stopped their strollers at the gate.

Marisol had chosen seven o'clock because everyone was awake and nobody was dressed to interfere.

The first mover, a heavy man with a gray mustache, held out a paper.

"Ma'am, we've got a pickup order for this address. Furniture to storage, house to be vacated by Friday."

"Who signed it?"

"Mr. Cordero."

"Which one?"

He checked. "Rafael. Mr. Rafael Cordero."

"Is there a second signature on that order?"

"There's a line for one."

"Is it filled in?"

He turned the paper over and looked at the back, and then at me.

"No, ma'am."

"This house was left to me by my mother," I said.

"My name is on the deed. His name is on it too, so he's one of two owners."

"I'm the other one, and I don't agree."

"Odette," Marisol said sharply.

"The order needs both signatures to move my things. Mine isn't on it."

The mustached man looked at the other five men, then at the neighbors, then at Marisol's clipboard.

I had not expected that to work. I had only read the back of the paper the way I used to read the back of a library form.

"Ma'am," he said to Marisol, "I'm going to need that second name before we touch anything."

"We are on a schedule."

"Yes, ma'am. So's my insurance."

Marisol's smile did not move. Her neck did.

A truck door closed behind me, and then another.

Gabriel came around the side of the house with a coiled rope over his shoulder and a pair of work gloves in his back pocket.

He did not say anything.

He walked across the lawn and stood at the end of the steps, two feet to my left.

Then he turned his face toward his mother.

"Gabriel," Marisol said.

"Mama."

"You have no business here."

"I rent the garage apartment. I've got a right to the driveway."

"You're being dramatic."

"I'm standing."

The movers shifted their feet. The neighbor's hose ran on and on over the same roses.

A black car turned in at the gate and parked across the drive, blocking the second truck.

Rafael got out in a navy suit with his tie loose.

He looked at the lawn, and at the movers, and at his brother. He did not look at me.

"What is this?" he said.

"Your wife read the back of the order," Marisol said. "It needs a second name."

"Then she'll give it."

"No," I said.

Rafael finally turned his head. His eyes went over my dress and my wet hair and stopped on my face.

"Odette. We talked about this."

"You talked. I read."

"You read a contract you don't understand."

"I understood the price. I understood that after the bank is paid I get nothing."

A woman at the gate said something low to the other woman. The stroller wheel squeaked.

Rafael lowered his voice.

"Come inside and we'll discuss it like adults."

"We'll discuss it here. You like an audience. You left the door open."

That was the first time I saw something go across his face that he did not control.

It was gone at once. He smiled for the neighbors.

"My wife is upset," he said, loud enough for them. "She's been under a lot of strain since her father passed."

"I'm fine," I said, just as loud. "I'm only not moving."

The neighbor shut off his hose.

Rafael stepped close to me and spoke quietly.

"Friday," he said. "That's when Calloway's lawyer comes with a locksmith. It won't be polite, and I won't be able to stop it."

"You told Papa to borrow from them."

"I told him it was a good rate. Calloway called the note after the funeral. That isn't my doing, Odette. It's out of my hands."

He said it too smoothly.

I did not know yet why that bothered me, only that it did.

"Then Friday I'll be here," I said.

"With what money?"

I did not answer, because I did not have an answer.

Marisol took her clipboard and told the movers to pack up. Her voice was perfectly pleasant.

As she passed me she said, close to my ear, "You were always going to lose this house, dear."

"I only wanted it done kindly."

Rafael followed her to the sedan. He did not look back.

When the last truck had gone through the gate, my knees started to shake.

Gabriel did not touch me. He only moved half a step closer, so that his shoulder was where my hand could find it if I wanted.

I did not take it.

"I need a lawyer," I said.

"Do you have money for one?"

"Three hundred and forty dollars."

"Then you need somebody who knows where the money is," he said.

For the first time he looked straight at me.

"Start with who Calloway Capital is."

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