Page 153 of The Other Side of Green

Life was a gift to live the way you wanted. The further you stepped from your path, the less you had to live for.

I got that now. Finally.

I didn’t know my path, because in truth I didn’t know who I was. I’d been told so many things, but none of them felt real to me.

My fingers gripped my violin case. I’d play again. On my terms.

Grams would get that, and if she didn’t—I lifted my gaze to the swollen clouds above—well then, I’d damn well take it up with her when my time came and we found one another again.

I’d ruined everything for Jack again. The thought of failing him and seeing his future crushed in his eyes, it made me want to curl up into a ball.

What had I been thinking?

I was green.

I needed to grow up. Needed to fight my demons. There was only one place I could do that.

My cell rang and my heart pounded. Jack? I couldn’t talk to him, didn’t have the words for sorry. Still, I pulled my cell out, a glutton for punishment and all that; let’s just stick the knife in to the hilt and give it a good old turn.

Unknown number.

“Hello?” I cringed, hoping to hell it wasn’t someone fishing for a story. What was I going to do though, never answer the phone again?

“Miss Lennox?”

That never boded well.

“Yes.”

“I’m Ray Daniels, Attorney at Law. I act for your grandmother. I’ve been trying to reach you for a couple of weeks now.”

“Oh, sorry.” I shook my head, why the hell did he need me? “My brother did mention it, but things have been a bit busy.”

“Oh I know. I saw you on the news.”

My cheeks flamed pink even though he couldn’t see me. “Great, anyway I’m sure it’s not me you want. It’ll be my mother, won’t it?”

There was a pause filled with a shuffle of papers.

“You are Lyra Lennox, born twelfth of December?” he asked, his voice a gruff rumble, like he smoked cigars, or maybe a pipe.

“Yes.” My voice tightened. What had I done wrong now?

“Excellent. So your grandmother’s will has been read.

Yeah, yeah, here we went… I was sure Mom would already have the house on the market. All trinkets on eBay.

“Let me guess, she left me her bible.” I chuckled. “It’s okay, I picked up the box she left me with her friend Patience, so I’ve got all the stuff she’s probably written down in her will. Thank you for checking though, but Patience wasn’t going to let me get away with not collecting it. She took her role as guardian very seriously.”

Another brief lapse of silence. “That’s excellent, although I don’t know what box you are talking about. Your grandmother had a wonderful heart though, so I’m glad she has left mementoes for you.”

“So what are you calling about then?”

“Your grandmother’s assets.”

His words buzzed around inside my head and then I snorted a laugh so loud, a drunk slouched on the floor against the shelter looked up at me.

“Grams didn’t have any assets, only the house which mother has.” I couldn’t call her ‘mom’, it seemed too personal for the role she’d played in my life. Mother sounded almost like I was talking about someone else—which in some ways I wished I was.