Page 86 of The Housekeeper

“Managing okay since your mom passed?”

I nodded, though I’ve always hated the term “passed.” As if she’d done well on an exam. “Seems to be.”

“That’s great,” she said. “How old is he anyway?”

“Almost eighty.”

“Wow. That’s a lot of house for one person, especially someone that age.”

“I agree.”

“Don’t you think he’d be better off in a condo?”

“Absolutely.”

“Or a retirement community. Upscale, of course.”

“Of course.”

“So…?”

“So?” I repeated, although I knew full well where she was going with this. Realtors are among the most unsubtle people on earth.

“So,” she said, “I have a buyer, someone willing to pay big bucks.”

“How much are we talking about?”

The figure she quoted took my breath away. “Wow.”

“You think he might consider it?”

“I honestly don’t know. You’d have to ask him.”

“I was hoping you’d do that.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea…”

“Just feel him out. If he’s at all interested, I’ll do the rest.”

I lifted my hands in the air in a gesture that told her I’d do my best, while simultaneously warning her not to get her hopes up.

“Great,” she said, pushing herself to her feet, wobbling only slightly on her four-inch Louboutins. “The sooner, the better, of course.”

“Of course.”

“You’ll keep me posted?”

“I will.”

What the hell,I decided, hearing the click of Stephanie’s heels as they retreated down the hall.What do I have to lose?

Now that my mother was dead, there was no real reason for my father to stay in that mausoleum. And this could be just the excuse needed to get rid of Elyse.

Hell, the worst that can happen is that he’ll say no.

So I picked up the phone and called him, listening as it rangfour times. I imagined that it took three rings for the person on the other end to get to the landline in the kitchen and check out the caller ID, and the fourth to decide whether or not to answer it. I felt almost flattered when the call was picked up.

“Jodi, hello,” Elyse said in greeting. “How nice to hear from you.”