It wasn’t foreign when Rae was around. “Okay. Sounds good.”
I hung up the phone with him and leaned back into the chair. I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes and sighed with relief. Okay. That was a better outcome than I had hoped for. Now, how the fuck was I going to get my hands on a copy of that sale contract?
Time to start searching the internet again.
The more I searched, the more insane this scenario became. A few weeks ago, I’d been hanging out with Roy, biding my time until graduation, and dreaming about plans to get out of this place. And now, I’d loved. I’d lost. I’d almost died. Only for my father to come to the decision he was going to throw me out on my ass. Force me to survive alone, no matter what.
&nbs
p; Wait. The bank account.
I picked my phone back up and punched in my information on my banking app. And when I saw that the $4,999.00 transfer had actually gone through, my jaw hit the floor. I pushed away from the coffeehouse computer as I sifted through the numbers I’d recently dialed. I called the guy back I’d spoken with at the beginning of the week, hoping to initiate another transfer.
But things didn’t go as planned.
“Your account’s been locked down, Mr. Clarke.”
I sighed. “Figures. I take it my father did that?”
“I’m not allowed to discuss the specifics of—”
“A few days ago you could. I’m still a beneficiary on that account, right?”
He paused. “Actually, sir, no. You’re not.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Your name has been removed from the account.”
“You’re being serious right now, aren’t you?”
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. But it didn’t lessen the sting.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Clarke. But if I can be of service to you at all—”
“You’re good. Thanks.”
And I hung up the phone before the tears crested the folds of my eyes.
I tried to focus on the good. If I could just get my hands on a sale contract, I might stand a chance at reaping a great deal of money before this six to eight week period was up. And until then, I still had things I could sell. I threw away my empty coffee cup and started out of the coffeehouse. I flagged down a taxi and got in, then rattled off my home address.
I needed to go home and start preparing things to sell off.
It didn’t shock me when I found Cecilia at the kitchen table. She’d practically taken up permanent residency there. I had come downstairs this morning and seen her sitting there, staring into her mug of coffee. And when I left to skip school and come back to the coffeehouse, she’d still been sitting there. Now, as I walked back inside around three in the afternoon, I found her still sitting there. Still in her robe. Still with that same damn mug of coffee.
Had she even moved?
“Cecilia?”
The two of us hadn’t spoken since yesterday. Since she told me the offer my father had made her. And that the invitation wasn’t open to me. I walked into the kitchen and sat down in front of her, waiting for her to lift her eyes to mine. Waiting for her to acknowledge me.
But she didn’t.
“Cecilia?”
She sighed, but didn’t say anything.
“Cecilia, we can do this.”