Page 143 of The Me I Left Behind

“I know. Me, either. Let’s pick up the pace to warm up.”

They arrived within minutes and headed up to the third-floor unit.

Maggie and Julia had had to dig deep into Max’s business paperwork to locate the name and address of the condo, and the corporate management details and contact information. She’d finally reached the corporate manager several days earlier, explained the situation with Max’s death, and discussed how she could access the unit.

They’d tentatively agreed to meet this week. Maggie was to call when she got to Brisbane.

She called that morning and scheduled a meeting for one o’clock that afternoon.

The condo manager let them in the unit, provided a key along with his business card, with instructions to let him know when they were ready to discuss the termination of the lease—which he also suggested might take some negotiation with the board, since there was approximately a year left on the two-year contract.

Maggie would not worry about that now. Today’s priority was to clean out the condo and either toss, donate, or ship things back to North Carolina. She hoped the shipping would be minimal.

“You know, Carol?” She stood in the bedroom, looking at the piles of clothing they’d dumped on the bed.Why did he need so many things here?“I don’t see much to ship back. Do you? Maybe someone over here could use these clothes.”

“I wonder if Jason would want anything,” Carol said. “Dad had a couple of cool casual jackets and some local T-shirts.”

“Maybe. If you see something you think he might want, put it aside. You want anything?”

Carol scanned the piles, too. “Maybe a jacket, just because it’s chilly here. If there is one small enough.”

“Honey, we can buy you a jacket or a big sweater if you need one.”

“Cool. Let’s do that.” She scanned the items on the bed again. “I hate to say it, though, but I’m with you. Let’s donate.”

“Great. One decision made.” Maggie folded a few shirts and placed them on the bed. It was weird, but she felt nothing. No sadness, no melancholy, no grief. Perhaps the only thing she felt was a sense of finality. Closure. And that was a good thing.

She glanced at Carol, who was emptying a dresser drawer now, and wondered if she felt the same. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”

Carol turned back. “Why?”

“How do you feel? I mean, this was your dad’s stuff. Does it make you sad? Weird?”

Carol exhaled sharply, scanning the items on the bed. “It’s his stuff, but really, it’s like it belongs to someone else. A different person. I honestly feel nothing right now.”

“I know. Me too.” Enough said on that topic.

“Let’s organize these in like piles and get them ready to box up.”

“Yep.”

They went to work on the clothing. When finished there, Maggie stepped into the ensuite bathroom. “I’ll clean out the things in here. Not much to do but toss the personal care items. We need to get some trash bags and boxes.”

“And find out where to donate, if they will pick up, or do we have to drop off.”

“Good thinking.” Maggie glanced over the items on the countertop. Aftershave, shaving cream, toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant… He lived here. Max, her husband, had lived here. And still, she felt nothing. Nothing more to do but toss every single thing.

She poked her head into the bedroom, catching Carol’s attention. “I bet there are garbage bags in the kitchen.” She bypassed the bed and moved into the large living area.

Carol nodded and continued folding clothes.

After finding a box of trash bags, Maggie removed one, then set the box on a tall dresser. “Anything we’re throwing away goes in these. I think I saw a garbage chute down the hallway when we came in.” She moved into the bathroom and made quick work of the items there.

Before long, they had loaded up three garbage bags full of items to toss. Maggie lifted two. “Let’s put these by the front door.”

“Hey, Mom. I noticed a laptop in the kitchen, on the counter. I’ll get online and see if there are places close by where we can donate the rest of this stuff.”

“There’s a laptop? Oh, good. Let’s take that back to the hotel.”