“Nothing’s ever as good as it seems, right?” Mrs. Redmond said. She straightened her skirt. “I’ll be honest with you. Rhine-beck is picturesque. It’s a touristy spot. But once you get past that you’ll see that it’s not quite what you expect.”

“What do you mean?” I was looking for an out. With everything going on, this wasn’t what I needed. I didn’t want to go someplace where the day-to-day would be harder for me. “Not what we’d expect? That sounds kind of scary.”

Mrs. Redmond laughed and her face relaxed. “Look at me, scaring you off before you even get there. What I mean to say is, Rhinebeck is full of colorful characters, but you shouldn’t let that put you off.”

“I’ve lived in New York my entire life,” Mo said. “I’ve seen my share of colorful characters.”

Mom turned to Mo. “I’m a pessimist. Give it to me the way you see it. You’re always looking on the bright side.”

Mo thought for a moment. I hoped she’d tell Mom this was too much to think about and that it’d be better if we stayed in Brooklyn. “Maybe this is exactly what is supposed to happen right now.”

My heart sank.

“We’ve been struggling,” she continued. “And we’re about to struggle a whole lot more with this rent hike. We’re gonna be paying forty-two hundred a month.”

“Are you serious?” I didn’t realize it would be going up a thousand dollars. I looked around the apartment. It was cute, but not forty-two hundred dollars’ worth of cute, and a rent hike that big sounded illegal but landlords were always doing some shady shit.

“One of your parents will have to sign for you, and I brought duplicates of all the documents,” said Mrs. Redmond. “As soon as you sign, you can go look around.”

“We could go for the summer,” Mo said. “Check it out?”

“Wait,” I said, standing up. “We don’t even know anything about this place. It’s far. And—and it’s in the sticks? In the sticks.”

Mom caught my meaning and immediately came to my side. “She’s right. This is too much. I don’t think—”

“Please,” Mrs. Redmond said gently. She came over and set her hand on my shoulder. “This place belongs to you now. If you don’t take possession, it’ll all go to the county and they’ll do whatever they want with it. Sell it, auction it off to developers.” She looked like the thought bothered her. “I’d hate to see that happen. So many old places end up getting razed for new housing or retailers. The estate is part of Rhinebeck’s history, and it’s away from the incorporated town. You’d have privacy and a chance to explore in peace.”