The word seemed to surprise him.
“I need you to understand.”
“I understood when you told me to leave.”
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You knew exactly what to do. You put my clothes outside.”
His eyes moved toward the suitcase.
The three sweaters in the puddle had become heavy with water.
“I thought if you left for a few days, we could sell the house and fix the loan.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“Sell the house?”
Daniel turned toward her.
“I was going to explain.”
“You were going to sell her house?”
“I was going to make sure we didn’t lose everything.”
“You meant yourself.”
He had no response.
The truth stood there without decoration.
Leonard closed the portfolio.
“Mr. Brooks, the lender has been notified that the collateral claim is disputed. The county recorder has also placed a hold on any transfer activity involving this property.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What happens now?”
“That depends on whether you cooperate.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you will provide every document related to the loan and vacate the premises if Mrs. Brooks requests it.”
Vanessa’s head turned sharply.
“Vacate?”
Leonard looked at her.
“You are an occupant under Mr. Brooks’s permission.”
The porch suddenly felt smaller.
Vanessa turned toward the open doorway.
Inside stood their dining table, their television, their wedding photographs, and the expensive furniture she had chosen after moving in.
For six years, she had spoken about the house as if it were an extension of herself.
Now she looked at it as a place she might lose.
Daniel reached for her.
She pulled away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Vanessa.”
“You told me she had no authority.”
