Chapter 4 - THE FIRST DECISION I MADE WITHOUT BRIAN
I did not go back to the house.
Carol offered me her guest room.
I thanked her and booked a modest extended-stay hotel instead.
I needed somewhere that belonged to nobody in my family.
The next morning, I called the number on the closing envelope.
A paralegal transferred me to attorney Melissa Hawthorne.
I told her my name.
She remembered the transaction.
“Mr. Dawson. The co-ownership purchase.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“What did you call it?”
There was a pause.
“The co-ownership purchase.”
I looked across the hotel room at the unopened envelope.
“Melissa, I think I need you to explain what I signed.”
She suggested I come in.
I didn't call Brian.
I didn't warn Brenda.
At eleven, I sat in Melissa's office with the original closing packet spread across a conference table.
She started with the mortgage.
Yes, I was a co-borrower.
That meant I was responsible for the debt if payments failed.
I already knew that much.
Then she turned to the recorded deed.
There were two names listed as owners.
Brian Dawson.
Frank Dawson.
Tenants in common.
I stared at the page.
“Where's Brenda?”
“She has marital rights that were addressed separately, but the deed vested title in you and Brian.”
I swallowed.
“So I own part of the house?”
Melissa frowned.
“Mr. Dawson, you don't remember this?”
“No.”
She looked concerned rather than judgmental.
“You contributed approximately half the acquisition equity. Brian asked that the deed reflect equal undivided ownership.”
“Why?”
“He said it was your retirement arrangement.”
That didn't sound like the Brian I knew now.
But it sounded exactly like the Brian sitting at my kitchen table months earlier.
Then Melissa pulled out another document.
CO-OWNERSHIP AND OCCUPANCY AGREEMENT.
My initials appeared at the bottom of every page.
Brian's too.
Melissa tapped a section.
“This granted you permanent occupancy rights in the ground-floor bedroom and full use of the common areas while you remained an owner.”
I almost laughed.
“My bedroom?”
“Yes.”
“They moved me into a shed.”
Her face became still.
“Did you agree to that?”
“No.”
I told her about the hose.
The isolation.
The restrictions.
The shed.
Melissa didn't promise me a dramatic legal victory.
Instead she said:
“You need your own counsel before taking action. I represented the transaction, not you individually in a dispute between owners.”
I appreciated that.
Then she said something else.
“There's another issue.”
“What?”
“Brian contacted this office three weeks ago.”
My stomach tightened.
May you like
“About what?”
“He asked what would be required to remove you from title.”
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