Page 42 of Bargaining

A movement outside the studio caught my eye. Someone was outside, but it wasn’t time for Elain to bring lunch yet. I moved to the window. My sister plowed over the lawn toward me with my nieces at her side. Tiff was making hard work of dragging an enormous suitcase along the grass behind her. I stepped outside to greet them. Both little girls broke into a run and threw themselves at me when they saw me. I dropped to my knees to hug them so hard they almost floored me.

Tiff set her case down. Her face was pale and pinched. Dark shadows lurked under her eyes. My heart sank.

“What’s wrong?”

Her mouth opened in dismay. “I’ve left Paul again. I need somewhere to stay.”

“I went back to Dad’s house, but it was too depressing. There’s mold in the back room.” Tiff stretched her legs on the lounger and watched Clara and Imogen dive-bombing each other loudly in the pool. “I have a friend at work looking for a new place. They’ve got a toddler and a baby on the way. The house would be ideal.”

“Which house?”

“Dad’s.”

No way.“It’s not for sale.”

“It’s just sitting there empty, Lottie. It’s damp and falling into disrepair.”

“It’s not for sale.”

“But it’s not healthy to hold on to it like this.”

A sudden crick in my neck made me wince. These loungers were too hard. I adjusted the pillow behind my head. “I’m moving back in. When Cole doesn’t need me anymore, I’m going back.”

“It’s not a house for a single woman. It’s a family home.”

My nieces were play-fighting in the pool, splashing water in each other’s faces. I tried to take a calming breath. A strong chlorine odor burned the back of my throat. “It’s my house now. Not your problem.”

Tiff wrinkled her nose. “It’s my problem if squatters move in and turn it into a crack den.”

I gave her a dubious look. “In Ecclesdale?”

“Where better? No one would ever guess. Crack dens happen everywhere.”

This is why the school mums had booted Tiff out of the group chat. Because she was annoying and never let anything go.

“Why are you so insistent about selling? You’ve been paid off. What does it matter to you?”

“Because I think it’s healthy for you to let go. I don’t like the idea of you sitting in that house alone, drowning in memories.” She turned her face away. “Clinging on to it won’t bring him back, Lottie. He’s not there anymore.”

A surge of anger made my blood hot.So fucking righteous and patronizing.She opened her mouth to keep nagging me, but I cut her off.

“Do you think you can work things out with Paul?”

Her face hardened. She shook her head and pain flickered in her eyes. “No.”

I sighed. Tiff broke up with Paul all the time, but this time she looked genuinely distraught. It was probably why she was giving me grief about the house again. “You can stay here as long as you need. I don’t see the girls enough. Stay for a vacation.”

“You don’t need to check with Cole?”

Yes. Probably.He wasn’t particularly easygoing about change. But that wasn’t Tiff’s problem. I waved a dismissive hand. “He doesn’t care what I’m doing out here as long as I’m not bothering him.”

She peered around the pool and slathered her shoulders with sun cream. “I can’t bloody believe this place.” She watched Clive pottering around, trimming the hedges. “You have staff.”

“I know,” I whispered.

“You’re like some sickeningly rich person now. I don’t know you anymore.”

“I’m engaged to a sickeningly rich person. There’s a difference.”