Kate tried to sleep, but images of her dead baby brother haunted her every time she closed her eyes. Her chat with Rosebud combined with Luke’s far-fetched idea, and a glance at the bright digits of her alarm clock—2:32 a.m.—made it clear she wasn’t going to sleep tonight.
Rolling quietly out of bed, she donned a pair of jeans and a sweater, left a note on the kitchen counter for Luke, then drove away to her uncle’s old place.
Might as well put her insomnia to good use.
After Kenny’s death, she’d waded through all the red tape associated with his will, but finally his house had become hers. While there was sentimental value to it, it was a crumbling mess. She’d talked it over with Luke. Turning it into a rental property would require so much work. She didn’t have the skills or time to do it herself, and Luke wasn’t the type of guy to make good use of power tools. He was a nerd through and through, and she loved him for that. She dealt with enough machismo from some of her colleagues at work.
As she unlocked the door to the house where so many happy and sad memories had been shared, she realized she had to deal with it as quickly as possible. Rip off the Band-Aid, strip away the memories worth saving, and then put it up for sale.
Whatever cash would come out of it would be a bonus.
So she picked up a garbage bag and one of the boxes Luke and she had brought over during a previous visit. She unfolded the box, taped the bottom shut, and carried it with her to the living room to see what was worth salvaging and what needed tossing.
She could get a lot of things sorted while the rest of the neighborhood still rested in darkness and silence.