Chapter 5

I spend another hour outside by the pool before returning to the house. Though I’d tucked my key safely in my shoe, just in case Cole decided to lock me out, I found the door unlocked and my housemate-slash-archenemy in the kitchen, humming to himself while he sifted through the fridge.

Upstairs, I towel dry my hair and change into dry clothes, vaguely considering putting on makeup but landing on just a bit of ChapStick for my lips and some lotion for my skin instead.

Downstairs, Cole is still in the kitchen, but I’m surprised to find him leaning over a pot on the stove. The air is filled with a hint of something warm and savory.

“What are you doing?”

He glances over his shoulder, like he’s been expecting me. “What’s it look like?”

“Preparing whatever you plan to poison me with.”

He draws his lips together, clearly unamused. “That’s one way to say, ‘Thanks for cooking dinner, Cole. You’re the best.’”

“Since when do you cook?” This feels like a trap, though I don’t actually think he’d poison me. Putting something in our meal to make me sick, though? That I could see.

Instead of the snarky response I’m expecting, he shrugs and turns back to the pot. “I like cooking, actually. I don’t like fast foods, so I had to learn.”

“What are you making?”

“You don’t recognize the smell?”

I inhale deeply and shake my head. “I don’t think so. Should I?”

“Mom’s stuffed pepper soup.”

Something in my chest softens as he says the words. When I was growing up and had a hard day, it was one of Edna’s go-to recipes. A pang of sadness I wasn’t expecting hits me out of nowhere. Growing up under the cold shadow of Vera, Edna was all but a second mother to me. She was the one who explained periods to me. She helped me dress for prom and took me to get my hair cut whenever I needed it. Though she was Vera’s house manager, we all knew she was more than that. She took care of everything, me included, until she didn’t.

Aside from occasional text messages or phone calls to check in or wish me a happy birthday, I haven’t heard from her since Vera had her pack my things, put them in a car, and send me on my way.

I still don’t understand how anyone could do that to someone they were supposed to care about. Vera’s betrayal was painful enough, but the pain of Edna siding with her cut deeper.

Cole has turned away from me, returning his attention to the food, so I cross the room and open the refrigerator. I grab a bottle of sparkling water, clicking my tongue.

“Does your mom still shop for the house?” I can’t help my curiosity over when I’ll see her again, even though I’m not sure I want to.

“Officially, not since Vera died, but she stocked the house before we got here.”

“We’re going to have to figure that out, then.”

“Shopping?” At that, he turns his full body toward me, clearly amused.

“Yeah. We’re going to run out of things eventually. We’ll have to shop for things. We need to find out how to take over paying the bills, and I mean, I guess we’ll be splitting everything. I have no idea how much it costs to heat and cool a place like this. Plus, there are repairs to think about.” Stress zips through me like lightning, and I feel a headache forming in my temples. I’m in way over my head here, but I can’t admit it. I refuse to.

“We’ll split everything down the middle, and we can shop for ourselves, like normal roommates.” He teases me with a sly grin. “Though we only have to label things if you really, really want to.”

“Oh, I’ll be triple labeling my things.”

The smile disappears, and he gives me a dramatic sigh. “Suit yourself.”

I twist the top off my bottle and move to stand next to the stove, watching him. “So, your mom really told you I’d be here, that this would be the arrangement, before you got here? And you still came? You thought this was a good idea?”

He stirs the soup thoughtfully. “Define good.”

I roll my eyes.

“I thought it was necessary,” he says after a moment. “It was what Vera wanted.”

“God knows we can’t have things going against her wishes.”

“She did what she thought was best.”

“Oh, always.”

Resting the spoon on the stovetop, he studies me, a wrinkle forming between his eyes. “Look, I don’t know what happened back then.”

I wait for him to say more.

“I woke up one morning, and you were just…gone.”

Despite his many flaws, I’ve never known Cole to be dishonest, so I’m inclined to trust him, but it doesn’t make it easier to swallow the truth. “I’m sure it made your life better.”

His dark brows draw together. “Who says you ever affected my life one way or the other?”

He’s right. I’m assuming he cared at all, when we both know he didn’t. Somehow, that stings worse. I sink against the counter. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter anymore. What are we going to do about the house?”

He crosses the room and pulls a beer from the fridge. “Wait for all the secrets to be revealed, obviously.”

“Cole.”

His head spins toward me, eyes locking on mine with something like shock in his expression. He swallows, looking away. “There’s nothing we can do yet. We have to wait for everything to get settled with the estate and?—”

A knock on the door interrupts whatever he was planning to say.

“Are you expecting anyone?” I ask.

He shakes his head, moving past me and down the hall. “It might be my mom.”

The idea of seeing Edna again fills me with conflicting emotions—a mixture of hope and fear. I don’t want to have to rehash all that happened again, and yet all I want is for her to hug me and promise it’s all going to work out. Sometimes, I hate the part of myself that is still very much that little girl who needed her. I hate that I ever needed anyone, when all they’ve ever done is hurt me, betray me, or let me down.

But when Cole opens the door, all my worry has been for nothing. It’s not Edna there waiting for us, but a tall, blonde woman with a round stomach and wide hips. Her breasts have been shoved into a blouse that looks two sizes too small. She pins me with a glare, and I recognize her instantly. Vera had the same glare.

“Aunt Jenn.”

Her eyes widen slightly. “So it’s true.” She looks past me and into the hallway, stepping inside without warning. “She left you the house.”

It doesn’t really seem like a question, but I look at Cole. “Well, actually, she left it to both of us.”

She drops her jaw, staring between us. “The two of you? Who are you? The son of the help?” She sneers, looking back at me. “What did you say to her? Why did she do this?”

At my side, Cole is surprisingly quiet.

“I don’t know. Neither of us do. We found out after she died,” I say.

She blows an indignant breath through her nose. “Well, clearly it’s a mistake.”

“Edna said she left you an inheritance.”

Her eyes flame with rage. “Edna should keep her nose where it belongs. Wait a minute.” She lifts her chin and sniffs—she literally sniffs the air, as if she might be able to track her down like a bloodhound. “Is she here?”

“Who? Edna?”

“No. She’s not here. My mom moved out after Vera’s death. She’s staying in my apartment until she finds a place of her own.” Cole’s voice drips with venom. “She’s doing exactly what Vera wanted her to, just like she always has. And, for the record, the will is literally, legally, her business.”

Jenn wrinkles her nose, her wrist bent up near her shoulder like she’s afraid to touch anything—as if being poor is contagious—as she turns her attention back to me. “Well, clearly, it’s a mistake. She wouldn’t have left the house to you. No offense. I’m her daughter.”

Cole steps next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. It sends a wave of electricity down my body that I’m not prepared for. “Bridget’s mom was her daughter, too. She left Bridget the house for a reason.” Something about him standing up for me has my muscles smoothing out like I’ve slipped into a warm bath. The feeling is foreign.

“Be that as it may, I’m going to fight it,” she says. “No judge in his right mind would let this stand.”

A bitter, acrid taste settles in the back of my throat. “Be our guest.”

She shakes her head, looking around the room with haunted eyes. I wonder if she can still smell Vera here, the way I can. “This was never the plan. My mother could be cold, but this…this is beyond what she was capable of. She was going to leave the house to me. Her only living daughter. You’re stealing it from me. You, Bridget Lancaster, are a thief. In this house or not, you’ll never be a Bitter.”

“I—”

“How dare you? You have no idea what you’re talking about. Bridget may as well have been a daughter to her.” Cole’s tone is sour, angry as he steps in front of me. “You have no right to claim you know what Vera wanted, or to make Bridget feel bad for something she had no say in.”

Jenn’s chilling blue eyes lock on Cole as a block of ice slides down my ribcage. “Yes, you certainly would come to her defense, wouldn’t you? This is all just too convenient for you, isn’t it? How do we know this wasn’t some weird trick by you and that twisted mother of yours? I always told my sister I thought Edna was after Vera’s money, and now she’s gone and proven me right, just used you as her pawn. I’ll bet you two are laughing all the way to the bank, aren’t you? Bridget is just too na?ve to see it. If your mother were here, Bridget, she’d agree with me. She always did.”

I don’t think that’s true. I only ever heard my mother and father speak kindly of Edna from what I remember, though it isn’t much. Still, I don’t respond, searching my memory for anything that might hint that Jenn is right. After all, Edna betrayed me once. Could she be doing the same now?

Cole is quiet for a second, the room eerily still. When he speaks, his voice is softer, lower. Somehow, it’s even more threatening. Like the first vibrations of an earthquake. “My mother was the closest thing Vera ever had to a friend. She cared about her, even when Vera did nothing to deserve it. And, as you well know, she was left nothing in her will. The house was left to me and Bridget, but all the money went to you. And your children. My mother isn’t getting a dime.”

She sneers. “I’ll bet she hates that.”

“Edna deserved a lot more than Vera left her,” I say firmly. “After all she did for her, and for this family. But the money never mattered to her.” I cross my arms. “I don’t know why you’re so upset about the house. It’s not like you grew up here. We did.” I move my thumb back and forth between Cole and me. “It’s ours, and Vera knew that.”

Cole steps backward, his eyes on mine as our shoulders brush once again. It’s clear he didn’t expect me to stand up for him, but right now it feels like it’s us against the world. Two little outcasts ruling the castle. “It’s ours,” he agrees. “Feel free to fight that, but until you’re able to, unless someone tells us you’ve won, we’re going to have to ask you to leave and not come back.”

She scoffs. “You can’t kick me out of my family house.” As if to prove her point, she stalks across the room and takes a seat at the desk. “I’m not leaving, and I’m certainly not listening to a child.”

Next to me, Cole bristles, but before he can argue or make this worse, I switch tactics.

“Please don’t do this,” I say softly. “I don’t want it to be like this between us. We’re family. You’re…you’re the only family I still have. Even if we haven’t stayed in touch over the years, I know my mom would want us to fix this. You were her sister. She loved you.” My voice cracks as I say it, knowing how true it is.

Her face softens slightly, somewhere around the eyes. I never really knew my aunt, and I knew my cousins even less. When I was a kid, my family was close. We visited Bitter House for birthday parties and Christmases, family dinners, and Thanksgivings, but those days are just distant memories. We haven’t spoken in years, but with Vera gone, they’re the only thing I have. They’re my only remaining connection to my mother. To my past.

“I don’t know what happened between Vera and the rest of the family. When I was younger, you guys were around more, and then…you just stopped coming.”

“That was never my decision,” Jenn says, refusing to look at me. “My mother always had things her way. You know how she was.”

“Well, it’s not how I want it. As long as I’m here, if we can be civil, I’d love for it to go back to the family I remember from before Mom died. The holidays and the get-togethers, don’t you miss those days? Because I do. I know it can’t be fixed overnight, but I’d love to find a place to start. Maybe we could get together for dinner or something. I just…I want to get to know you. All of you. I haven’t seen Jonah or Zach since we were all kids. It shouldn’t be like that. We don’t have to be the family Vera left. We can do it our own way.”

She twists her lips with a response I can’t quite read, so I press on.

“I never meant for any of this to hurt you. Believe me, I was just as shocked as you are about the house, but I have to trust that there was a reason Vera left it to me. To us,” I correct myself before Cole gets the chance. “It may belong to me, but you’re welcome to visit any time. I’d love it if you did.”

She sighs. “You just don’t get it, Bridget. The money is one thing, but the house is…it’s what she worked for. Fought to keep after our father died when my uncle wanted it, when the original Bitter family tried to take it back. It was mine. Maybe not for the first few years of my life, until my grandparents died when I was a teenager, but it was my home nonetheless.”

“Regardless”—Cole steps in again—“the house belongs to both of us. If you’d like to make us an offer to buy it, we can’t stop you. But we won’t just be giving it to you, and it will take both of us to agree to sell it, which we haven’t done. We aren’t taking any part of this decision lightly. We want to respect Vera’s final wishes.” With that, he turns and holds out an arm. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we were just getting ready to have dinner, and you’re interrupting.”

Aunt Jenn bristles, her shoulders going stiff as she stands. Her eyes dart to me, and I shake my head. “He’s right. I know emotions are running high right now, and we all just need some time to cool off. Maybe we could make plans for you to visit on another day.”

She huffs. “We’ll see about that.” With that, she marches from the room, shoving Cole’s arm away when he attempts to pull the door open for her.

When the door shuts, I turn back to him, but he’s already returning to the kitchen to stir the soup.

“Did Vera really not leave anything for Edna in the will?” I ask, following close behind him.

He glances over his shoulder. “She didn’t leave her any money.”

“But she left her something?”

His head bobs up and down. “Some jewelry, I think. Her old clothing. Mom didn’t want any of it, so it’s all still here at the house for us to sort through. That wasn’t why she was here.” The defensive tone of his voice catches me by surprise.

“Okay. I’m not saying it was. I was just asking a question.”

“I don’t like the fact that Jenn thinks Mom was using Vera. If anything, it was the other way around. You saw how much she did for this place. For all of us.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “I know that, but Jenn doesn’t. She wasn’t here for most of it, not once Vera sent her away. I think it’s normal for her to be…concerned. You didn’t have to be so mean to her.”

“Oh, I didn’t? You mean after she insulted the both of us and my mom? What exactly should I have done, Bridget? Offered for her to join us for dinner? Clearly that was your plan.”

“She’s family. And she’s upset. Understandably so. It’s a tense time for all of us.”

He rolls his eyes, jaw set. “She hadn’t spoken to Vera since you were, what? Ten years old? The fact that she got an inheritance at all was more than generous?—”

“She’s her daughter. Of course she got an inheritance. And she’s right. Staying away wasn’t her choice. Vera sent everyone away, just like she did me. It wasn’t always like that before. If I was old enough when she cut ties with everyone else, I would’ve been sent away at the same time.”

“I’m sure she had her reasons, and I’d bet they had something to do with money. You were just a kid. You couldn’t have seen or understood everything.”

Something about the way he says the words makes me pause. “Do you…know what they were? Her reasons for sending her family away? For never speaking to any of us again?”

There’s a pause, a twinge in his shoulders—hardly noticeable—before he shakes his head. “Of course not. I was just a kid then, too. But I trusted Vera, same as you.”

That was my first mistake.

He spins around. “Look, I know I have no right to send people away from a home that’s only half mine, but if she’s going to be here, she can’t disrespect my mom. Or you, for that matter. Can we at least agree on that?”

“Me? Really? You’re the only one who can do that?”

He lowers two bowls from the cabinet, ignoring me, and prepares our dinner. All the camaraderie we shared moments ago is gone, and we’ve remembered who we are.

“I’m not all that hungry,” I tell him as he places the bowl in my hand and turns off the stove.

“Suit yourself.” He shrugs, moving past me and out of the room. Minutes later, I hear the door upstairs shut, telling me I’m alone.