"Another day, another day stuck in this house!"

She was not complaining. She loved the house dearly. It was like Zee did not live there for the amount of time she spent there. Tristan would either stay downstairs in the basement or leave for the day and sometimes not even come home at night.

What was the point of having a roommate at this point? Tristan had fixed up a lot of things in the house, and he worked the yard, something neither Zee nor her would ever do. She maintained the garden as best she could and was even sprouting some things.

Other than that she spent her days reading her grandmother's journal, in the den playing on social media, or lying on the couch eating her meals while she watched mindless TV.

She had another month or so of summer break so at least there was that. Her classes were only three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Three classes were on campus and one was online early Tuesday and Thursday morning.

Maybe this school year she could make friends to hang with and have a social life.

Since Tristan was not home, she decided to snoop into his bedroom today and check it out. She had peeked in before, but never outright overstepped his privacy. The way she looked at it, she was the landlord, she owned the property and she was making sure he was taking care of everything.

She stepped into his room through the bathroom. It looked like a room on display in a magazine, so contrast to Zee's room which looked like a tornado blew threw it. While her room was somewhere in between...literally in between the two.

His bed was crisply made like no one ever slept in it. There was nothing on the floor, not even a loose sock or a shoe. The bedroom set was the one that was already there but her bought his own mattress set. The dresser only had a few personal items, a watch, two bottles of cologne, and a bible.

He was religious?

She picked it up and thumbed through it. She never went to church that much, he mother was not into it. Her GiGi would make her go when she was younger but made it optional in her teen years and she would rather sleep in.

In the chest, there was nothing. It was bare. She opened the top drawer and quickly closed it. It was full of his neatly rolled and stacked boxers. No need to snoop into that.

She opened his closet and there were a lot of clothes hanging up, things she had not seen him wear. Well, outside of his favorite Cardinals jersey. On the floor were several pairs of Nike boxes. He had a lot of shoes, but not nearly as many as Zee. On the top shelf were some boxes, but she was not going to pry, besides, she could not reach it without standing on something.

She made her way over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it. Then she laid back on it and exhaled.

Maybe he was with some other girl right now. One he could do all the things with.

She sat up and then opened the drawer on his nightstand. She started to close it right back up but stopped herself. Instead, she pulled out the box of opened Trojan condoms. Curiosity made her count how many were in there. Eighteen in a twenty-pack, so that's not bad.

Or maybe since moving in he was on his second or third box.

She put the box back in the drawer and closed it then stood up. She made sure she rubbed the creases out of the bed so he would not know she was there.

That's when she heard someone at the door. She left her phone in her room so she could not check the camera. She hastily exited his room, closed the bathroom door, went into her room, grabbed her phone, and looked down at it.

It was her father. He still had a key so he was opening the door to come in.

She walked down the stairs to greet him.

"Dad, what are you doing over here?" Especially without warning her. He did not live there anymore, she owned the house and he could not just come over whenever he liked and use his key.

She had not seen him since the funeral and he inherited a million dollars and ghosted them. As always, her Aunt Rita said he went out of town as soon as the money hit his account.

"Checking on my baby girl." He grabbed her in a hug and kissed her cheek.

They were never affectionate so that shocked her.

"How is the house doing?"

"Fine."

Her father looked around in the living room and then walked into the dining room. "You're here all by yourself? I didn't see Zee's car."

"Yes."

"That's not good. My two little girls here all alone...well, it's too much. Maybe you two aren't ready to live here all alone."

She side-eyed her father. Her grandmother lived there all alone for years. He only was there off and on. Did he worry about his mother? No, he was barely around, only used her as a free place to stay well into his fifties.

"We're fine Dad." She did not know if she needed to tell him she had a roommate, a male a roommate at that. "We have a great security system and everyone knows not to mess with GiGi's house."

Her father continued to look around the house, walking off toward the kitchen as she followed him. What was he looking for?

"You could sell it and get it off your hands and make a pretty penny."

"Never," she stated.

"I see you have new kitchen appliances. Why put money into this old house?"

"Because we live here and it was necessary."

"Tell you what, I'll buy it from you girls. You can take that money and rent an apartment somewhere nicer, and newer than this. In a better neighborhood."

Her father had some nerve! He was born and raised in The Ville, in that house. He was born at Homer G. Phillips when the hospital was the only hospital open to Black people.

"Dad, we're not selling."

"Oh come one little princess, you're too young to own a house like this. Too much work when something breaks down. This neighborhood is going downhill every day. You know they are closing Sumner right? The abandoned building next door is an eyesore. The Miles next door are looking into moving as well."

"What would you do if we sold you the house?"

Her father did that stupid grin of his. "Good question. The land is worth more than this house. I will tear it down and rebuild it."

"Like hell, you will!" she shouted at him. "You would do that to the house you grew up in, that your mother and father bought with their hard-earned money? Made a life for you and your brothers and sister here. All the memories. That means nothing to you?"

"Memories are up here, kid," he said, patting his forehead.

Her father made no sense. If the house was worth a lot, why tear it down to rebuild something else? The newly built homes had no history. A few blocks over, in what was considered The Greater Ville were a few Habitat for Humanity Homes that were built in the nineties before she was born that were an eyesore today.

"We could flip this and make double what it's worth."

We? There was no we when it came to the house. The only we were her and Zee. Their grandmother could have done anything with the house, but she chose to give it to them. Not her perpetually homeless father.

"Dad, GiGi left you what, a million dollars. There's no need to worry about money when you have that. I'm not worried about money. I have enough to pay for college and have some leftover to help out with the house."

"How much you got?"

"Enough."

"Just that, it wasn't a million after you know...you pay taxes and upgrade to the new Tesla, a new Rolex, and a month in Florence, Italy."

"You what?"

"Yeah, me and my lady friend. We just got back. Blew through most of that and need to re-up. If we sell this house-"

Her blood ran cold listening to her reckless father. How could he be her father and be this insufferable? Had no care for her or his other daughter. Throw them out on the street, sell the house from under them, and pocket the money. That was his plan.

"I think you should leave."

"How are you going to kick me out of my house?"

"Your house? It's not!"

She walked away from her father, down the hall, and to the front door. He was an embarrassment to her.

"Johanna, how about I call Zee and discuss it with her."

Zee would never even answer the phone if he called. Just as she was standing at the door it opened and in walked Tristan.

"Oh, hey..." Tristan looked over at her father. "You're Mr. Daniels, Johanna's father, right?"

"And who are you coming into my house like you live here?" her father asked.

"OMG! Because he does," she said to him. "He's our roommate and helps out around the house."

"You let this...this...thug looking-"

"He's not a thug! And can you leave, please? Don't call, don't come over again, I can't deal with you right now." She held the door open for him. "And can you please give me the key? You are not allowed to just barge in my house again."

She held out her hand to him. "You are not welcome here."

Her father did not look like he was about to turn over the key. If he did not, she would simply change the locks on all the doors.

"Yo, I'm not in this," Tristan said. "But I think you better listen to her."

"You're right, you're not in this, little punk. That's my daughter! This is my mother's house, I am welcome anytime."

Tristan stepped to him. "Listen, I'm trying to be respectful because you're Johanna and Zee's father...but frankly I don't give a fuck. You were just a sperm donor anyway. Give her the fucking key!"

Her father quickly pulled off the key from his key ring tossed it on the floor away from her, then stormed out the front door. She closed and locked the door then picked up the key from the floor.

Tristan grabbed her hand. "Jo, you all right?"

She could not talk to him. She could not even look at him. She ran upstairs and closed her door. She had no tears for a man who never cared for her.

It was what it was.