Page 50 of Bone’s Choice

“Me?”

“Why Wisconsin?”

Hazel’s expression changed. “The house.”

“I know that.”

“Then why’d you ask?”

“You could’ve sold it.”

She looked down at her plate. “I thought about it.”

Ma stayed quiet.

Hazel shrugged. “There wasn’t much keeping me in Ohio.”

“Family?”

“Not anymore.”

I didn’t ask. Something in the way she said it told me not to. “Boyfriend?”

Her eyes came back to mine. “No.”

Good. The thought came immediately. I ignored it. “Job?”

“Waitressing.”

“So you just packed everything and left?”

“Pretty much.”

“Just like that?”

Hazel laughed softly. “It wasn’t quite that dramatic. I gave notice.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.”

She picked up her wine. “I don’t know. When the lawyer called and told me Diane, who I had never met, had left me the house, it seemed stupid not to at least try.”

“Who is Diane?”

Hazel frowned. “Diane? The woman who lived in the house I now live in.”

Mom looked at me. “You knew Diane.”

I looked between them. “What? That wasn’t her name.”

“Her name was Diane,” Ma said.

“No, it wasn’t,” I insisted.

“Yes, it was.”

“I’ve called her Deedra for twenty fucking years.”