He sat forward in his chair. “Are you okay, darlin’?” Mr. Stevenson asked. It had to be a trick question. I mean, I was a millionaire. That was good, right? Everyone wanted to be rich. I just didn’t know what to think about being told that I would be one million five hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars richer by the end of the month. Part of me wanted to tell him that I couldn’t take it then the bigger part of me realized how many people I could help with that money.
“Um, I—I just need a minute to process this,” I told him honestly.
“Take your time.”
I looked at him then over at my dad. He was holding my hand and his face looked shocked as well.
“Can I ask a question?”
“Of course,” he said, sitting back in his chair. He looked like he belonged in an old movie. He had on black slacks with a button up shirt but instead of a tie, he had one of those silver pendants that had two pieces of leather hanging from it. On his feet, he had cowboy boots, and I knew that he wore a cowboy hat because it was sitting on his desk.
“Why did they leave it to me and not my mom?” Why would they leave me anything when I didn’t even know them?
“I'm not sure of their reasoning. A few weeks before the car accident, they came in and changed their will so that you would be the sole beneficiary of the estate at the age of twenty-eight. Now, your mother contacted me about their estate shortly after the death of her parents and I explained the situation to her. She was upset, but said she understood why her parents left their estate to you. I'm surprised that she never told you about this.”
I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t tell me. We weren’t close and she never talked about her parents. Maybe she didn’t talk about them because they left me the money. That might also be why she treated me so poorly growing up. She felt that I took something away that should have been hers. I decided I was going to call her later and tell her that I was giving her half of the money. They were her parents and I'm sure they would want her to have some of it.
“Are you okay, baby girl?” I turn towards my dad. His eyes are concerned, and I'm so lucky to have him. His love is unconditional. No strings, no stipulations. He just loves me. He doesn’t even care that I now have money. And I know that if my mom was sitting where he is, she would be mentally spending every penny.
“Yeah, Dad. I think I need to call Mom later and talk to her about this.” I squeeze his hand. I could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to say something.
“I'm not sure that’s a good idea, baby girl.”
“Dad, I want to tell her that I'm going to give her half the money.”
“No, that’s your money. You are going to keep every f**king penny. That bitch is not getting one cent of that money.”
“Dad,” I whispered. “They were her parents. No matter how you feel about her, they gave her life. I feel like they would have wanted her to have something from them.”
“Fuck, no. They left it to you, not her, and they did that shit for a reason.”
“Dad—”
“Baby girl, I want you to think about this for a week. Seven days. Then, you decide what to do about it. But don’t call her yet. Wait a week and see how you feel.” I felt tears sting my eyes and I knew that my dad hated my mom for what she took away from him. I also knew he wanted me to make a good decision.
“Okay, a week,” I agreed, and he pulled me into his arms and hugged me close.
“I love you, baby girl. Never forget that.”
“I know, Daddy.” I hugged him tighter.
“Okay, November,” Mr. Stevenson said, bringing my attention back to him. “Since that is all out of the way, I'm going to have Nick call you in a few days, once I got all the papers ready to be signed. Once that’s done, we can talk about the accounts and I can help you get things sorted, so that it’s more manageable for you to handle on your own.”
“That would be great,” I told him. He stood, and Dad and I followed. Mr. Stevenson came around his desk and shook my hand.
“We’ll be in touch,” he said, walking us out to the front of the office where Nick was sitting behind a desk, typing away at a computer.
“Son,” Mr. Stevenson called to his son and his head lifted. “I'm going to need you to pull all the papers for the Armsted estate then gather all the transfer papers.”
“No problem. How are you, November?” Nick asked. He had on a suit today, and he looked good in it. He also had on a pair of black rimmed reading glasses that made his eyes stand out. His hair was a little shaggier than the last time I saw him, and it fit him well.
“I'm good. How are you?” I asked, starting to get uncomfortable about the way he was looking at me. Today, I had on a pair of black leggings and a cream scoop neck sweater. I also wore black knee high wedge heels and the scarf I got from Liz’s store.
“Good. I was just getting ready to have lunch. Do you want to join me?” His dad took a step back, and I felt awkward that he was asking me out in front of his father. Plus, he knew that I was seeing Asher, who had made it perfectly clear that I wasn’t available.
“I'm sorry, but I'm meeting Liz for coffee.” His face fell and I felt so bad. I’ve never liked hurting people’s feelings. “But I'm sure she wouldn’t mind if you joined us.”
Even though I was sure that she would mind. She didn’t seem like a people person. I was actually surprised that she even agreed to have coffee with me. Then an idea formed in my head. Nick was cute and Liz was pretty. Maybe they could get together.