“She was always the teacher’s pet,” Travis added with a sneer. “Guess she got the chalkboard!”
Laughter erupted like a chorus of hyenas. I sat still, face flushed, eyes on the floor.
That old farmhouse? It wasn’t just a pile of timber and termites.
It was where Grandpa Thomas started his textile repair shop back in the 1970s. He’d once told me while we were watching “Columbo” reruns, “Em, this place built our legacy. Every seam I stitched, every patch I ironed, it happened right down in that basement.”
Most of the family thought he’d shut the business down long ago, and to be fair, it did look abandoned from the outside.
He had stopped renting out the space downstairs years ago. But I remembered him paying property taxes like clockwork, even when he complained about how little money he had left.
I always thought it was odd. Why hang on to a money pit if it wasn’t making anything back?
Clearly, that place meant everything to him. The day after the will reading, I packed a few things from my mom’s house and told her I was moving out.
She didn’t argue or protest, so I drove out to Montgomery County all on my own.
But when I got there, I had my doubts as a young woman on her own.
The paint was peeling, the roof sagged, some windows were boarded up, and the porch creaked under my feet like it might give way. I hesitated and contemplated calling a friend or one of my cousins to come stay over, but then something wonderful happened.
I felt a familiar energy around me—it was Grandpa Thomas!
I took a deep breath, calmed myself, and knew I would be okay on my own.
I could even still smell the faint trace of old fabric and machine oil on the stairs.
I moved in with just a mattress, a toolbox, and a stubborn streak I inherited from my grandpa.
My friends called me crazy. Mom eventually begged me to sell it and take a loan for grad school, but I couldn’t let it go. I was on a mission, and I was determined.
I worked night shifts at a gas station to afford repairs and spent my days cleaning every single corner, hammering, and rebuilding.
