An investor, the realtor said. A company that buys old houses, fixes them up fast, and flips them.
For weeks, they talked about nothing else.
“It’s not fair,” Renee said. “We were going to put in an offer on Monday. Monday!”
“Cash buyers,” Daniel said. “They always win.”
“They’re going to gut it,” Renee said. “Granite countertops. Gray floors. They’ll cut down the pecan tree for a pool.”
Chloe cried.
Caleb asked if the lizards would be okay.
What they never noticed was what happened to me during the same period.
Three months before that dinner, I stopped at a gas station.
It was a Tuesday. In July. After a routine appointment with my cardiologist in Phoenix. My blood pressure was fine. My heart was fine. The doctor said I’d probably live to be ninety.
I drove back to Scottsdale on the 51. I needed gas. I stopped at a Circle K on Shea Boulevard.
