Let It Snow(22)

When Grandma Adie had first moved to San Diego, before the dementia had set in, she’d told Tessa that she had a property manager that would be looking after the house. Tessa had always meant to come up and check on everything or at least call and speak to someone at the real estate office that was handling the property, but her grandma’s health had begun declining so rapidly that Tessa had been maxed out just trying to take care of her. Then, once she’d had to move Gran to a home, Tessa had spent all of her time between making sure that Grandma Adie had been taken care of and picking up as many photography jobs as she could to continue to pay for her care.

“All right, sorry about that.” Lauren walked back up on the porch, carefully stepping across the missing plank of wood in her six-inch heels, then entered the house with a friendly smile on her face. “Hi! It’s been a long time, stranger. How does it feel to be back?”

“Hi.” Tessa had no idea how to explain how it felt. “Yeah it’s been a while. It feels…strange.”

“I bet.” Lauren nodded her head as her eyes widened. Her expression turned somber as she said, “Well I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. I’m so sorry for your loss. Adeline was an incredible woman.”

“Thanks. Yes, she was,” Tessa agreed. Since she’d cried enough for two lifetimes in the last day she decided to direct the conversation to a less emotional topic. “Congratulations on your show. I haven’t had a chance to watch it but I’ve seen the promos.”

“Oh, thanks. It’s fun. Not anything I would have ever expected to do, but like they say, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. And what about you? Oh my gosh, that piece you did on Darfur. The image of the girl sitting beside her dying mother still haunts me today.”

“Yeah, that was a tough shoot.” It was also the last assignment that she’d been on as a photojournalist. The day she’d gotten home from that job had also been the first time the police called saying that they’d found her grandma wandering the streets, unresponsive.

“So,” Lauren said, adopting a very professional tone, “I’ve looked over everything and it looks like, between the second mortgage and the back taxes, you owe one hundred and ten thousand.”

The room started spinning at the sound of that number.

“Tessa.” Lauren’s voice sounded far away. “Are you okay?”

Tessa lips were tingling and she felt like she was floating. An arm wrapped around her and she was vaguely aware of her feet moving. Warmth from the sun hit her face and she squinted her eyes. She was outside.

“Tessa, are you with me?” Lauren asked from beside her.

Tessa’s head felt heavy as she turned to look at her friend. She managed a weak, “Yeah.” Slowly, her awareness returned. Lauren must have ushered her outside because she was seated on the grass in the front yard. She took in a few deep breaths. “I’m okay. Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“I’m the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have just blurted out that number. I am so sorry, Tessa.”

“No, it’s fine. You were just doing your job. And I think that my lightheadedness had more to do with living on only energy drinks and coffee the last few days, driving for twelve hours straight, and getting no sleep last night,” Tessa explained. She didn’t want her friend feeling at all responsible for her passing-out close call.

Lauren did not look completely convinced but she dropped it. “Well, the good news is that there’s not any structural damage to the house. I went ahead and had it inspected this morning after Henry called. A lot of the repairs are cosmetic. There is some plumbing and roof work that will need to be done. But mostly it just needs a deep cleaning and a few coats of paint to get it ready for sale.

“And the comps in this neighborhood are right at two hundred so you would not only be able to pay off the second mortgage and the taxes, you could have a little left over as well.”

Tessa nodded, taking in the information Lauren was giving her.

“If you planned on selling,” Lauren quickly added. “I just assumed that you wouldn’t be holding on to it.”

“Henry mentioned something about the bank taking it over. How long do I have before that happens?”

“You have forty-five days until they will be foreclosing on the property. But that is plenty of time. And I know that everyone will pitch in.” Lauren pulled out her phone. “I’ll get a hold of Amanda to put the word out. We can do a work day this Saturday.”

There might be drawbacks like gossip and everyone knowing everything about everyone’s business, but being a part of a small tight-knit community definitely had its advantages as well. Not that Tessa was really a part of this community. But her grandma had been, so she kind of was by default.