Life’s Too Short by Jimenez Abby

Author:Jimenez, Abby [Jimenez, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adult, Contemporary, None, Romance
ISBN: 9781538715680
Amazon: 1538715686
Goodreads: 54377375
Publisher: Forever
Published: 2021-04-06T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

THESE PEOPLE ARE EATING DINNER IN A DUMP AND YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE WHY!

VANESSA

We pulled into Dad’s driveway. It was 6:30 on Saturday night. We’d left Grace with Yoga Lady. I didn’t want her to breathe the black mold and dust mites that Adrian and I had signed up to endure for the next two hours.

Adrian put the car in park and looked up at the house. “Are we really eating dinner in there?” he asked grimly.

I looked over at him. “I thought you said you were willing to get one of the heps with me?”

He snorted.

I pulled my Carmex out of my bra. “I don’t trust Dad to cook food that won’t kill us, but I trust Sonja,” I said, applying the lip balm and putting the cap back before tucking it back into my shirt. “I think it’ll be okay.”

I peered back through the windshield. The Christmas lights were on. I’d like to say this was Dad being festive, but this was actually Dad being festive like four years ago and they never came down. For just one month of the year, Dad’s house didn’t piss off the neighbors.

“What does your dad do for a living?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Now? Nothing. Not really. He used to be an accountant. He’s really smart. Then he found out that he could sell all the random stuff he liked to collect, so he quit his job to hawk things on eBay and Craigslist full-time. Dad’s not very handy, though, and most of what he tried to sell was junk, so he never made enough. That’s when the whole clutter thing went from bad to worse, because everything became something that could be ‘fixed and sold.’” I put my fingers in quotes. “He’d bring anything home. A toilet sitting on the curb. Broken luggage, someone’s old ice skates.”

“Bikes.”

I scoffed. “Soooo many bikes.”

I sighed. “I know I give him a lot of shit, but I think he did the best he could.” I paused. “It wasn’t easy living through the things he did. I think enough tragedy can unravel anyone.”

Adrian turned to me. “I think it depends on who you are. You know, you’ve been through all the same things he has and you’re not unraveled.”

I smiled softly at him. “Yeah. Well, I think that stuff tends to get worse the older you get. Let’s just hope I live long enough for it to really hit me. Turn me into that eccentric aunt who wraps things from her house to give away as gifts at Christmas.”

He laughed.

I nudged him. “Hey, so when do I get to meet your crazy family?” I asked. “It doesn’t seem fair that mine gets all the attention.”

“My whole family’s in Nebraska now. My mom moved there with her husband and my grandma in October. Richard and Mom invited me down for Christmas, but I’m not going.”

“How come?”

He shook his head. “I don’t feel comfortable. I don’t like Richard.”

“Oh yeah? Why not? Is he a dick?”

He laughed a little at my joke.

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