Ezoic
“For when Claire says you can clean up,” he said.
That was all he said.
He stayed until the sun went down. He helped me find the water meter in the basement and photograph it. He checked the bathroom floors for soft spots. He walked through every room with a flashlight, looking at the ceilings for water stains.
He didn’t say another word about Brian.
I slept at Dad’s house that night. I couldn’t stay in that house with the holes in the walls and the broken mirror on the floor. It felt like sleeping next to something that had died.
I lay in my old bedroom, under the same flowered comforter I’d had since high school, and I stared at the ceiling.
Down the hall, I could hear Dad moving around in his room. Long after I thought he’d be asleep.
At one point, I heard his voice. Low. Like he was talking to someone on the phone. I couldn’t make out the words.
