Chapter 23: The Back Bedroom

On Monday the lawyer from Vine Street read the will to me in her office.

Greta sat on one side of me and Burke on the other.

It was one page, typed, with Carly's signature at the bottom in the same loops as the envelope.

"She came in on the twentieth of February," the lawyer said. "She was very sure."

"Of what?" I asked.

"She wanted to leave everything to two people." The lawyer turned the page.

"Her sister Peyton and Macy Gartside, in equal shares, and a note to each."

I felt Greta's hand land on my back.

"Peyton's share," Burke said.

"Void. A person who causes a death can't inherit from it." The lawyer looked at me over her glasses.

"It falls to the other beneficiary."

"To me."

"To you. The trust pays out on September twelfth, to Carly's estate, and that's yours."

I stared at the number on the page.

It was larger than I had ever been near.

"I don't want it," I said.

"You don't have to decide today."

"I mean I don't want it to be mine."

Burke's hand found mine under the desk.

"There's a note," the lawyer said. "It's sealed. She asked that you read it alone."

I took the small envelope into the lobby and sat down on a bench by the elevators.

Inside was a single card, in purple pen.

It said: Macy, if you're reading this, I didn't get to tell you.

Spend it on something that makes you brave.

And eat the hot stuff. I mean it. I'll be watching.

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