Page 7 of The Birchwood House

“I can’t stay here,” Audrey said, her voice barely more than a whisper. She shook her head and reached into the pocket of her sweater, taking out a letter. She set it on the table beside Michelle, who began to read it hurriedly.

“I got it this morning,” Audrey said, watching Michelle’s face as she glanced between her mother and the letter.

A few moments later, Michelle’s jaw dropped as she grasped the contents of the letter. “Foreclosure?” she gasped, appalled. “Dad stopped paying the mortgage?”

“Some time ago, it seems,” Audrey said grimly. “I guess he’s been planning on leaving our life behind for a while. He called this morning, before the letter even arrived. Told me his lawyer would handle the divorce and he wanted it over with quickly.” She gave a short, humorless laugh. “I said fine. There’s nothing left to say to him—nothing worth saving.”

Michelle grit her teeth, battling a slew of negative emotions. What she wanted to do was break down crying and then call up her father and give him a piece of her mind. She wanted to be strong for her mother, however. Audrey was going through things Michelle couldn’t even imagine. She was determined to be her mother’s rock in the midst of her tough time.

“Well, then we’ll make the best with what we’ve got,” Michelle said briskly. “We can get a place together in Coral Sands, and I know of a cheap agency that we can hire for the moving process. They’ll sell anything you no longer need, which will give you some extra money.”

“Oh, that’s fantastic,” Audrey said, looking relieved. “That would be a huge help.” Her eyes danced with a sudden eager light. “And I love the idea of finding a place with you. I’ll contact Red Spruce Realty in Coral Sands and see about finding a house that’s available.”

They finished their breakfast, and Michelle felt a surge of hope rise up in her despite their circumstances. Audrey stood up briskly as soon as they were done eating, smiling with determination.

“I think I’m going to start packing,” she said, sounding almost cheerful. “Only the stuff I intend to keep, and I can load it into my car. I can have this moving company you mentioned deal with everything else. I want to seize the moment, I think.”

“Packing?” Michelle echoed, surprised. “Right now?”

Audrey nodded eagerly. “Why not? I want to keep moving. It’ll help keep my mind on the future.” She grinned at her daughter. “Want to help me? And then later we can drive over to your place and start packing up your stuff.”

Michelle found herself laughing. “Why not? No time like the present—and besides, I have nothing else to do.”

“I’ve still got a bunch of boxes in the basement,” Audrey said. “We can bring those upstairs and then start filling them. It shouldn’t take too long—I don’t want to keep all that much. Some photo albums and then my personal belongings, but that’s about it.”

Michelle wrapped her arms around her mother. She knew that despite Audrey’s brave demeanor, this must be terribly hard for her.

“Sounds great. We’ll blast some girly rock music and turn it into a dance party.”

Soon they were upstairs in Audrey and Clark’s bedroom, blasting some of their favorite iconic songs and stuffing most of Audrey’s wardrobe into her suitcases and some of the boxes. Michelle felt a wave of love as she looked at her mother.

What a strong, brave, resilient woman she is,she thought.Whatever comes next, I’m so grateful that she and I are going to go through it side by side.

CHAPTER THREE

Evan McBride ran his fingers through his short brown hair, squinting at the screen of his computer. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t want to mess up his hair too much, since it wouldn’t do for the mayor of Coral Sands to look as though he’d just tumbled out of bed after a nap, but it was late enough in the evening that he felt confident he was the last one left in the building.

The mayor’s office was a fine-looking red brick building on a hill overlooking the ocean. He often thought to himself that it was one of the best parts of his job, getting to work in an office like that. When he had a day as long as that particular one had been, however, nothing could sweeten the way he felt sluggish and fatigued—not even a third cup of coffee with a hot chocolate packet mixed in to create an impromptu mocha.

He took a long sip of the beverage, noting that it was already starting to get cold. He glanced at the clock and grunted a little when he noticed how late it was.

I’ll be finished here soon,he thought to himself. Iwant to make sure I go over every last detail of these papers.

He had always been a by-the-book type of mayor, a preciseness that was partly his personality and partly due to the fact that he had little else to devote his attention to now.

His mind began to wander in the direction of the past, and he was too tired to stop himself from thinking about it. He looked down at the picture of his son that was resting on the edge of his desk. It was a nice photograph, taken of the two of them on Evan’s most recent visit to New York City to visit Tyler. Tyler looked proud and professional even in his t-shirt and baseball cap, standing in front of the skyscraper that he usually wore a suit while working in. Evan liked the photograph, since he was immensely proud of his hard-working son, but he remembered the picture that had been in the frame before—one of himself, Tyler, and his wife.

He sighed, trying not to imagine the image of the three of them sitting around their dining room table, showing ten-year-old Tyler holding up his birthday cake and grinning. His wife had been holding Evan’s hand, and she’d looked as happy and proud as he’d felt.

He grunted, forcing himself not to go down the rabbit hole of “What went wrong?” for the millionth time. She’d told him, when she came to him and said that she wanted a divorce a number of years ago, that they had grown apart. But that had been news to him. He’d thought that they were happy, just busier with their work than they had been in times past.

He frowned, turning his eyes away from the picture. He always did his best not to feel sorry for himself, but that was becoming harder to do as he’d turned into more of a crank as the years went on.

I’m a busy man,he thought defensively.I don’t need to have a family in town anymore. Coral Sands takes up nearly all my time.

He smiled slightly, reflecting that Coral Sands was all the family he needed. He loved his town, and he genuinely cared about the well-being of its citizens. He might have become somewhat famous for his grumpiness in years past, but hisactions showed that underneath his gruff exterior, he meant well and wanted the best for his town.

He finished up his paperwork, taking far more meticulous care than was necessary. After that, he finished the last of his coffee and began to drum his fingers on his desk. He looked at his calendar, thinking through all of the upcoming events that Coral Sands had scheduled. He wondered if there was preparation work for any of the events that he could start working on.