The Orphans of Race Point: A Novel by Patry Francis

Author:Patry Francis [Francis, Patry]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-05-06T00:00:00+00:00

PART FOUR

THORNE HOUSE

{ 2001–2009 }

Chapter 21

The sign outside Thorne House announced the fate of Nick Costa’s legendary medical practice, his wife’s unfulfilled dreams, and Hallie’s lost childhood: SOLD BY RODERICK REALTY. Hallie pulled the sign from the ground and leaned it against the fence, face in. Did they have to scream it in such bold colors? Felicia’s brother, Hugo, had handwritten the second sign in purple Magic Marker the day before: ESTATE SALE TOMORROW: Everything Must GO!!! The exclamation points annoyed Hallie so much she was tempted to uproot that sign, too, but she resisted. She could dig out all the signs she wanted, but the truth would remain: the buyers were closing on the house in three days and she was contractually bound to deliver it clean and empty.

The day she’d signed on for the service Hugo called “cleaning and disposition of assets,” he had handed her a business card that proclaimed him a “professional antiques dealer.”

Hallie had confessed in Felicia’s kitchen that there weren’t many antiques in the house. But her old friend just licked the cream out of the middle of the Oreo like she used to as a child and laughed out loud. “You really think Hugo knows his ass from an antique? My brother’s got a wallet full of those cards, and he’s a serious drunk. It’s not too late to change your mind—”

“I’m sure Hugo will do a fine job, and I’d rather give the business to someone local.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re just like your father?” Felicia said with a familiar eye roll.

It was something Hallie had heard countless times in her life, but it felt different now.

Felicia stopped and hugged her. “I’m sorry . . . I’ve walked by that empty house so many times, I kind of got used to it, but this is the first time you’ve been home, right?”

“Since the funeral.” Though he’d always claimed he wanted to be cremated, at the end, Nick had asked to be buried in St. Peter’s—where Liz Cooper was interred with the Costas.

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