The new roof made the house look good, like a woman with a new hairdo. Hunt felt good about the progress. A lot had been done in a short time, and the painters were due tomorrow. Once they had come and gone, the old house would have a new face to go with the new hair.

Hunt had spent days cleaning up and covering up everything that didn’t need painting. All of the hardware was removed from drawers and cabinets. The doorknobs were covered up, and windows taped and covered to keep paint off the panes. He’d done everything he could think of to speed up the process, and now it was up to the professional paint crew who would begin work tomorrow.

But today was the yard sale, and there was a line of cars on both sides of the street, with locals digging through what was left of Marjorie Knox’s life.

Junior was at his new job, so Emma and Birdie were taking the money, and Ray and Hunt were loading up purchases for the buyers.

There wasn’t a thing left inside the house now, and Hunt’s bag with his clothing was in the truck. The truck would sell at auction on the same day that they auctioned off the house, so he still had it for now. And at Ava’s invitation, he was moving in with her until he was done.

Days ago, Emma had put up signs about the yard sale all over town, and the response today was steady and productive.

The furniture Hunt feared wouldn’t even sell went first. Dan Amos bought almost all of it and, with Hunt and Ray’s help, loaded it up in a small moving truck and took off to Savannah to have it refinished and reupholstered. He would use it to furnish another rental house.

As for the rest of the items scattered about the yard, they were quickly disappearing.

Once Hunt saw Emma and Birdie in tears, and knew how they felt. It was hard to see people going through their mother’s things, talking about the condition, bargaining for a better price, and tossing some of it aside. It felt like they were judging Marjorie, and it hurt. But it was life, and they were doing what she wanted.

By the time Ava got off work at three and came by to check on the progress, everyone had gone home and there wasn’t anything left. Hunt was sitting on the tailgate of the truck when she drove up, and got off and came to meet her.

“Hi, darlin’,” Hunt said as he gave her a quick hug. “Did you have a busy day?”

“Oh, always,” she said. “But it appears you guys did, too. I can’t believe it’s all gone.”

“Dan Amos bought most of the furniture. The rest of the stuff went pretty fast after that,” Hunt said.