Chapter 24: Right Chat

At six in the morning the porch was gray and cold, and the street smelled like wet leaves.

Rafe was already sitting on the top step with two mugs and a manila envelope.

He had not slept. I could tell by his eyes.

"You're early," I said.

"I wanted to be here first."

I sat beside him and took the mug. It was my grandmother's blue one, the one with the chip.

Across the street, my neighbor stepped out onto her porch in a bathrobe and raised her phone.

"I'm just filming the weather," she called.

"It's overcast," I called back.

"It's about to get interesting."

Rafe laughed into his coffee, and I leaned my shoulder against his.

"Open it," he said, and handed me the envelope.

Inside was a single sheet with a county seal and a stamp that said RECORDED.

It was the deed to my grandmother's house. There was one name on it, and it was mine.

Dillon's name was gone from it.

I ran my thumb over the stamp. It did not make a sound.

"It came yesterday," Rafe said. "I wanted you to see it here, and not in a kitchen."

"You could have given it to me last night."

"Last night I was busy."

I smiled at the paper.

When I looked up, there was a second thing in his hand, a small box from an actual jewelry store.

"I want to say something first," he said.

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