Dale sat opposite me and opened the folder to a quitclaim deed. “The original acreage came through Dad’s family. Mom and I want it returned to the Tolliver trust. You take the check and find somewhere easier to manage.”
I turned to the final page. My name appeared beneath the signature line as Sloane Tolliver. I had never changed my last name when Luke and I married.
“You know I’m Sloane Mercer,” I said.
Dale waved dismissively. “That can be corrected.”
“It needs to be correct before you ask me to sign anything.”
Arlene moved closer to the table. “Luke should have sorted this out while he was here. He was always too sentimental about the place.”
I glanced toward the window. Luke and I had repaired fences there together, cleared the road after storms, and spent years saving to purchase the meadow beside the creek. Arlene had visited often enough to see the work, although she had never asked how we afforded it.
[“Luke wanted to live here,” I said.]
“And you can’t maintain it alone,” Dale answered. “The roads, the equipment, the taxes—it’s a lot for someone who spends her days behind a laptop.”
