Adelina heard the front door open and two voices. Dolph and his Scottish friend Drew. They sounded happy.
"Adelina!" Dolph yelled.
Adelina sighed but walked out to greet them. They were carrying a big box.
"What the hell is that?" Adelina asked.
"My new tv," Dolph said.
"It's gonna be great playing Mario Kart on that," Drew said.
"I'm totally gonna beat your ass," Dolph said.
"Keep dreaming, little man," Drew said.
Both of them started laughing. They carried the tv into the living room and started setting it up.
"Would you mind running out buying lunch for us?" Dolph asked.
"You got any money for that?" Adelina asked.
Dolph shot her a hard look and she just sighed and nodded. Now was not the time to start an argument.
"I'll pay," Drew said. "Just order something. I don't care what."
"Thank you," Dolph said.
Adelina walked out in the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water, and walked back towards the bedroom. She had no idea what to do with herself. Dolph and Drew would be busy playing all day and forget about her. She stopped by the bedroom, decided against it, and instead walked to the office in the back. It wasn't an actual office. Just a spare room where they kept their laptops on a desk. She walked inside and saw that Dolph had forgotten to close his laptop earlier. And not just forgotten to close it, he was still logged in.
She looked behind her to make sure Dolph wasn't there, and then she closed the door silently. She walked over to the desk and sat down. Everything was open. He was not one to log out anywhere. She started going through his mails and found mail after mail from credit card companies. From what she could read, he owed a lot of money. Way more than she could count. And he kept spending and getting new credit cards.
"You son of a bitch," she said.
She leaned back in the chair and just stared at the laptop. There was no way out of the giant hole Dolph was digging for himself. He would have to win the lottery. And still he kept digging himself down further and expecting her to pay for everything.
"No, you are not his fucking ATM!" She growled at herself. "Figure it out!"
She spent all day googling around, coming up with a plan, and talking to Seth about it. When Drew finally left that night, she was ready. She found Dolph on the couch, tired after having played for that many hours.
"Did you have fun?" She asked.
"Today was a great day," he grinned.
"We need to talk," she said.
He raised his head but couldn't bother sitting up.
"We can't afford the house anymore," she said.
That made him sit up fast. Hearing he was about to lose his beloved home made him feel angry. This was his safe place.
"Find another job then. I'm not moving," he said.
"I talked to my parents. They're willing to empty out the entire basement for us so that we can live there without getting disturbed. It has its own entrance. We won't see or hear them. And they'll let us live there for free," she said.
He liked hearing that word. Free. Free meant more money between their hands. And the basement was big. It would be no different than a roomy apartment.
"This means we can save up for another house quickly. One where you can also be on the deed. That way we'll both feel safe," she said.
He smiled at that idea. She never wanted to put him on the deed for this house. This new idea was right up his alley.
"And we should be able to afford a car for you too. I know how much you want one. I wanna be able to give that to you," she said.
"I'm in," he said.
"Yeah? Are you sure?" She asked.
"100%. Let's sell the house and move," he said.
"Okay. I'll put it up for sale right now," she said.
She started walking out of the living room again.
"I love you," he said.
She took a deep breath and turned around with the most fake smile she could manage.
"I love you too," she said.
She walked back to the office, closed the door, and posted the house for sale. She had everything ready to go before she went and talked to him. She just needed that one click, and it was out on the internet. Her heart felt heavy. She really loved this house but she knew she couldn't stay anymore. She picked up the phone and dialed her brother Seth.
"Hey, sis," he answered.
"I did it," she said.
"I got a buyer for you," he said.
"You what?" She asked.
"I showed pictures of your house around at work and said it would soon be up if anyone knew someone. One of the guys is getting a divorce. He wants your house," he said.
"How the fuck did you manage to pull that off so quickly?" She asked.
"I'm a Rollins. This is what we do. We figure shit out," he said.
She chuckled on her end. He was making it so much easier for her. It felt good having him in her corner.
"We'll get you out of there soon," he said.
"You can't tell mom and dad anything," she said. "I got a whole thing figured out, and you having someone interested in the house will work in my favor. Tell him to stop by tomorrow to take a look at it. We need to be fast about this before Dolph starts suspecting anything."
"On it," he said. "Stay strong, sis. I'm right here if you need me. You can do this. Fuck that loser. He's hurt you enough. It's time to put yourself first."
