I frantically ran upstairs checking all the rooms, every single one was empty, all the furniture, all the décor, any trace of things Aunt Susie had even touched, was gone.
I rushed downstairs, "It's empty! Everything is empty," some tears fell down my cheeks.
Conrad looked at me, his eyes screamed pain and disappointment.
Julia entered the house and we all went to see what she had to say.
"What the fuck, Julia." Conrad said his gaze was menacing.
"I'm sorry," she spoke, "This must be such a shock. I-I spoke to your father this afternoon, and-and he and I decided that it would be best not to drag this out any longer than necessary."
I kept my arms Josie and Kai in comfort for them and for me.
"I don't give a shit what the two of you decided on," Conrad spat, "You had no right to touch anything in this house. Those were her things."
"Breathe, man," Steven said coming up from behind him and gently holding his arm, "breathe, okay?"
"Everything's in storage. I made sure that everyone was very careful with every single thing," explained Julia, gathering her stuff, "I'm just doing what I have to do to sell this house."
"Bullshit," the eldest brother jumped in. "You could have said something. You could have warned us. All you want to do is fight our mom, constantly-"
"Okay, enough," she said facing the angered youth, "you're not the only one that's hurting here. And I'm not the one you should be angry with. You're mother could have warned you that this was gonna happen. She just wanted to make me the bad guy, as usual."
"I'm so sorry that she was too busy dying to make your life a little easier. You know, it sucks that our grandfather loved her more than you, but I'm not surprised." And with that, Conrad stormed off.
I pushed Kai and Josie towards the exit to check on Conrad, but to also take our leave. Everyone eventually followed us out and we saw Conrad trying to ring his dad frustrated he wasn't picking up. "Of course, Dad did nothing to stop her."
"Connie, what can he do?" Jeremiah asked. In situations like this, Conrad was the emotional one and Jeremiah was the voice of reason.
"Jere! He doesn't care about us!" Conrad exclaimed still trying to ring his father.
Skye came out and Conrad accused them on knowing about this, they swore they didn't. We stood there not knowing what to do.
Jeremiah spoke up, "Okay, we can't just leave. Alright? The house isn't sold yet. We still have a chance."
"A slim one," Skye said, "I mean, full disclosure, a couple already came and saw the house when we were gone. They put an offer on the table and the realtor is leaning heavily towards them."
"Thank you, Skye," Steven sarcastically said, "for that bleak as fuck assessment. Also, where are we going to sleep tonight?"
"I think there are some sleeping bags in the garage," Belly suggested but was shut down by Conrad saying, "I'm not sleeping in this house."
"Okay, I-we," Jeremiah said holding his brother's arm, "we don't have to, alright?
"Okay, well, hotels are usually all booked up around this time of year," Belly said.
"I feel like I should... go. And I'd totally invite you guys to come stay with me, but it's a pretty small place, so..."
"Yeah, maybe.. maybe we should go too," Taylor spoke up.
"You guys can stay with us," Kai said making everyone turn to the 8 year old under my left arm. "Pappy and Nonna's house is big, right Abby?" he and everyone else looked at me for an answer.
I nodded slightly, "that is true. They did just extend the living room."
"No, Abby, we can't intrude like that," Jeremiah said.
"Oh, you won't be intruding. Earlier today, they messaged me asking if you guys wanted to come round for dinner. I declined since the showdown was in full swing, but knowing my Nonna, she still prepared all the food," I told him. "Let me call them and ask if it's okay for a sleepover. You guys think of a plan B, just in case."
THIRD POV:
The group watched Abby walk a couple metres from them to make a phone call.
"Okay, so whilst Abby does that, let's think of a plan B," Steven said.
As they were throwing out suggestions, Conrad was focused on the girl speaking on the phone. He focused on the way her expression went from dismay to happiness as she spoke to her grandparents, how her favourite grey bag sat perfectly on her back, how her black curly braids with an auburn ombre fell effortlessly past her shoulders down to her lower back. The way she walked back and forth, biting her press on nails that she trimmed to size.
"Dude," Steven said snapping him out of his gaze, "you good?"
"Mm-hm," he cleared his throat. "You, uh, you guys thought of somewhere we could stay."
Steven followed where his eyes were previously looking and found Abby talking on the phone. He smirked and looked at Conrad, "yeah, man, the, uh, country club. Though I'm betting you're hoping her grandparents say yes."
Conrad looked worried, he didn't want to upset the guy for moving from his sister to his close friend.
"Relax, man," Steven said, "I can see the tension between the two of you. I support it."
"Really? But what about Belly?" Conrad questioned.
"I know it might be weird 'cause she's my sister and all, but after being here with all of us today, it shows we can put that stuff behind us and get back to how we used to be, maybe even better. If you like Abby, I say go for it. Belly will be fine. And for what it's worth, she likes you too, just too shy to admit it."
Steven went to the group, leaving Conrad with his thoughts.
She likes me. She really likes me. His thoughts spinning in his head animated.
Unless Steven was lying, but why would he lie about something like this. Conrad trusted that his friend wouldn't joke about something like this, and if it was true, Conrad had more than one mission now, to save the beach house and confess his feeling for Abby, to Abby.
He averted his eyes and pretended to listen to the group when he saw Abby walk back to them.
ABBY POV:
Author's note: Any speech or talking "" in bold means it's spoken in Italian. I do not want to butcher the language and google translate is not always accurate.
"Hurry home, mia nipote, the food will get cold," Nonna said on the other end of phone.
"Yes," I said walking back to my friends. They stopped their conversations as I stood in front, "okay, we'll hurry back. Love you, bye." I looked at their expecting faces before speaking, "They said you can stay over," making them sigh in relief, "but... Nonna says to hurry if you want to eat. She hates reheating her food."
"Come on, let's go!" Kai said racing to my car.
"Abby, are you sure?" Conrad said stepping to me. "We don't want to be a-"
"A burden," I chimed in with a smile. He nodded his head. "You're never a burden to me," I looked passed his shoulder to the group, "no one of you are. And Cam, Skye, you're both more than welcomed to tag along."
"Really? You're grandparents cool with that?" he asked.
"Yep, I gave them a head count, they'll be expecting that number, so let's not disappoint them right?" They nodded with a smile. "Okay, then, shall we?"