I stepped onto the porch and watched her climb out of a shiny black Mercedes, oversized sunglasses covering half her face. Aunt Linda wore a white blazer as if she were headed to brunch, not her father’s house after his death.
She didn’t hug me.
She wasn’t there to mourn, but to inspect.
My aunt scanned the property.
I heard her before I saw her.
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“Wow,” she said, pulling off her sunglasses. “It looks smaller than I remember.”
I folded my arms. “It’s the same size.”
She walked past me without asking and straight into the house.
My youngest, Noah, who is five, was sitting on the floor with his toy tractors. Aunt Linda barely glanced at him.
For the next three days before the funeral, she walked through every room like an appraiser.
She opened cabinets, tapped walls, and made notes on her phone.
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