Dancing to the Truth (The Brent Trilogy 3)

Chapter 16

On Monday morning, I finally turned on the phone and I had countless missed calls from Marcus, and unknown phone number, and a few from Becky. There were also text messages, but I was not in the mood for explanations, so I deleted them. I did, however, decided to call back Becky. She answered on the third ring.

"We got an offer, way over the asking price, and it's cash," she said instead of hello. "It's really good, Brent, and I think you should take it. Also, where have you been? I've been trying to reach you all day yesterday. They are investors from California, and they want an answer by noon today."

She told me how much they offered.

I couldn't believe it. I told her to accept, and start the paperwork. With that kind of money, both me and Whitney were getting almost as much as the house was worth when we first bought it. It was a bittersweet moment, but I knew that it had to be done. Too many memories in that house that I didn't want to remember, despite all the good ones. Sometimes, all the good in the world cannot cancel out all the bad.

But now that this was serious, I had to find a place for myself, and fast. I wasn't sure if I wanted to rent or buy. It would make sense for me to buy a place, because I could just pay for it cash and wouldn't have to worry about mortgages or any of that crap, but it was also a commitment. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to stay in San Antonio anymore. Yes, of course, Justin and Isabelle were going to be staying here with their mom, and I wanted to be part of their lives, but... I also wanted to start fresh somewhere. And I didn't know if San Antonio was a big enough place for me to hide from all the memories that haunted me.

I stayed at the motel for the entire week, and I asked my work if they were okay with me working from home for the next few days, to which they agreed. I met up with Andrew, Becky's assistant, and I looked at a few places. There was a nice three-bedroom condo that I could pay off completely that I really liked, but I still hadn't decided if I wanted to stay in San Antonio.

On Friday, as I was getting ready to get off work and go grab dinner somewhere, my phone rang. At first, I thought it was Marcus or William, attempting to reach me again, so I didn't even bother with it. But then I saw that it was Whitney.

"Hey," I picked up the phone.

"Hello," she said, and she sounded strange. "Look, I'm sorry for calling you like this out of the blue."

"That's okay. You know I'm always here for you."

"That's the thing. I need to fly up to Maine. My dad had a heart attack, so I need you to take care of the kids for a few days."

"Absolutely," I said. "I was on my way to get dinner, but I can come and get them and we can do that together. I missed having them on Sunday."

"That would be very helpful, thank you, Brent."

"It's literally the least I could do. Do you need a ride to the airport?"

"N-no, but thank you for offering."

"I'll be over in a few minutes."

I arrived at Whitney's new place twenty minutes later. The first thing that I noticed when she opened the door was that she wasn't wearing her glasses. At first, I thought it was because she was crying, but then I realized she must've gotten contact lenses.

"Thank you so much again, Brent," she said. "I really appreciate it."

"Daddy!" Isabelle ran towards me and she threw herself in my embrace.

"Come on in, I'm still getting their things ready," said Whitney, inviting me into her new home for the first time since we separated.

I walked into the narrow hallway, that had a small, but nice kitchen to the right, and a nice and spacious living room in the front. The TV was on and Justin was sitting in front of it, playing some game on the PlayStation. I didn't even know that he had PlayStation, but I swallowed my words and I didn't say anything. I felt like I was playing an extra in my children's lives, and I realized that it was no one's fault but mine.