“Yes, Mom! Yes, I see you just fine. I hear you, too.”
“So just tell us this much: ARE YOU GOING TO BE ABLE TO SELL THAT HOUSE, DO YOU THINK?”
I look up then to see Noah standing in the doorway of the living room, his arms folded. And if I had thought he looked shocked when I was standing at the front door earlier, that’s nothing compared to how he’s looking at me right now.
TWENTY-TWO
MARNIE
So. Here we go.
When I hang up, Noah comes all the way into the living room, walking so deliberately it’s as though the floor might be made of pointy little rocks. His eyes are round and bright with shock. He sits down on the floor across from me and shakes his head.
“Okay, Marnie,” he says slowly, “why don’t you tell me what’s going on? What are you doing here?”
I swallow. “Oh God. It’s so confusing and complicated. I thought you knew what was going on, but—well, apparently your Aunt Blix left me this house when she died. You didn’t know that?”
“No, I didn’t know that! How was I supposed to know that?” He falls back against the couch and rubs his face briskly with both hands. “She left her house. To you. My ex. Oh my God. I can’t believe this.” Then he puts his hands down and stares at me for a long moment. “Why would she do this? To my mom?”
“I don’t know. I’m as shocked as you are.”
He gets out his phone and looks at it. “Oh, fuck. I’ve had the ringer off, and there are, let’s see, um, nine, ten . . . no, thirteen calls from my mom in the last day and a half. And three texts saying I’ve got to call her immediately.” He sighs and puts the phone back in his pocket. “And my mom doesn’t believe in texting. So this means she’s really desperate. Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck. What am I supposed to do?”
“Wait. Seriously? You don’t check your phone?”
“Correction: I check my phone, but I keep the ringer off because if I didn’t, I’d go crazy from my mother wanting to be in touch with me all the time. Trust me, this is only slightly more calls than I usually get from her. My policy is that I return about every fifth call.”
“Noah! What if something’s ever really wrong?”
“I’ll find out eventually. She’s insane, my mom. You know that.” After a moment he says, “Before I call her, could you please walk me through this? How did this all happen? Did you talk to Blix?”
“No. I got a letter from a law firm.”
“A letter. I’m going to need to know more than that now, aren’t I? What did the letter say, Marnie?”
“Just that I had been left this piece of property in Brooklyn, and that I should come as soon as possible because there were some things that needed doing. Some decisions.”
“Some decisions.”
“Yes.”
“And what kind of decisions?”
“Noah. I don’t know what kind of decisions. Stipulations, I guess. Things I need to know about or do or . . . something. That’s why I’m here. It said I should come as soon as possible.”
He doesn’t say anything for a long time after that, simply stares off into space. He’s flicking his thumb against his index finger, a nervous habit he used to display in meetings, back when we were teachers together. Back before everything. When we were still falling in love.
But I remind myself that we are so not anywhere near falling in love anymore. He left me. He’s not sorry about that. And I inherited this house. And why? Because maybe this is all part of the big life Blix thought I should have. I can’t very well tell him that, though.
He gets up and starts pacing in circles around the middle of the room, rubbing his hair. “But were you in touch with her since the wedding? Did you know she was doing this? Have you ever talked to her?”
I sigh very heavily, to show him that I am nearing the end of my patience with this line of questioning. “Look. I talked to her once. One time. But she didn’t say anything about this. I swear. And I didn’t even know she was sick, much less dying.”
“Tell me the truth. Just so I know. Did you somehow get her to do this to get back at me?”
“Noah! You know me better than that.”
“But now you’re going to sell it? That’s what your mother said. ‘Are you going to be able to sell that house?’ Those were her exact words. She was practically screaming it. So that’s what you’re planning, right?”
I don’t say anything.
“Yeah. That’s what you’re planning. Oh my God. And here’s what’s so ironic. If you sell it, then what? You’ll take the money and move to some three-bedroom house in the suburbs, won’t you? You don’t even care about it.” He keeps shaking his head in disbelief. “Too, too unbelievable. Just incredible. But that was my Aunt Blix in a nutshell. Totally zigging when you thought she was going to zag. Always keep ’em guessing.” Then he stops walking and sighs. “And you know what? What I’m most sorry about here? The conversation I’m about to have with my mother. She’s going to have a million things to blame me for in this little scenario. Trust me.”
“Well. I do feel bad for you.”
He laughs. “No, you don’t. This is all fucking unbelievable, you know that? I was the one here when my great-aunt dies, and yet somehow she manages to say nothing to me at all about the house or what’s going to happen, so I of course just assume I can stay here because it’ll belong to my family—and then you show up.”
There’s a loud noise from downstairs. “What’s that?” I say.
He runs his hands through his hair. “I told you. There’s a guy living down there. He has a life. Sometimes he drops things.”
“What’s his name?”
“Patrick Delaney. He’s disabled in some big way. Burn victim. Doesn’t come out much.”
“I think I’m going to take a walk. I’ll see if he’s okay.” I can’t stand looking at Noah for one more minute.
Now he’s pacing again. “Wait. I just thought of something. Do you think it’s possible that she left the house to both of us before we got divorced, and that my letter didn’t come to me yet because I was in Africa, and that what my mom wants is to tell me there’s this letter for me from the law firm? Is there any way that could be what’s happening?”
“Maybe,” I say. “Actually, I have an appointment to meet with the attorney on Monday at ten. Why don’t you come with me, and maybe we can get some answers?”
“Okay,” he says after a moment. “At least I can tell my mom that.”
I get up off the floor and go outside, closing the big heavy door behind me. Even though it’s night, it’s still bright from the streetlights, and there are plenty of people outside, walking their dogs, talking into their phones. There’s a coffee place four doors up the street, filled with people wearing scarves and jackets. I go down the little stairs to the basement apartment. It’s narrow and dark, and probably infested with New York cockroaches and rats, but I bravely knock on the door anyway. I keep my eyes on my feet, just in case something should try to run across them.
No answer, so I knock again. And then again. And again. There are bars on the windows. I shudder.
Finally there’s a muffled voice from inside: “Yes?”
I put my mouth near the door. “Um, Patrick? Listen, my name is Marnie. I’m Blix’s . . . friend, I guess you’d say. Or maybe grandniece-in-law. Friend sounds better, though. Anyway, I was upstairs and I heard a crash. Just wanted to check you’re okay.”
There’s a pause and then the voice says, more muffled than before: “I’m fine.”
“Okay,” I say. “Well . . . good night then.”
Another pause. Then, when I’ve given up on him having anything else to say, I hear, closer to the door this time: “Welcome to Brooklyn, Marnie. Is Noah with you?”
I lean against the door, close my eyes, almost brought to my knees by the question. And the kindness of his voice.
“He is,” I say finally. “Well, not now, but he’s upstairs. I think I’m going to go over to the coffee place and get something to eat. You want to come?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“Well, that’s okay. Can I bring you back something then?”