While I wasn’t sure on the exact timeline on when they’d gotten married before my father’s passing, the fact that I’d never heard of her to begin with was telling.
Either he’d neglected to let me meet her for a specific reason, or she simply had expressed to him in wanting to keep distance between us. Fine by me, except now that this was a matter of my father’s wealthy estate, suddenly the introductions were integral.
“And if I have no interest in that?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, I do need you down here during the discussion. Since she’s contesting your father’s will, I need all parties present.”
I sighed. “When and where?”
“I’m setting up a meeting the day after tomorrow. If you can get down here early, we can go over what you’re willing to bring to the table in terms of negotiating if it comes down to that. She may simply ask for money and be done with it. But until that happens, I want us both to be prepared for the worst.”
A smart move, even if it was rather unfortunate timing.
Still, it would give me a much-needed distraction from the rest of the problems in my life.
“All right, I’ll be there.”
“Excellent,” Ted said. “I’ll see you then.”
I tossed my phone away from me, and my world tilted backward until I was flat against the mattress.
I prayed that this woman was only after the money. That I could handle.
Anything else and I’d blow a gasket.
CHAPTER 13
Brandon
Quiet Nostalgiawas a prettyironic name for the band currently playing on the gazebo stage at the center of the park. Ironic in the sense that the longer we wandered around the festival listening to their bluegrass music, the more I was falling into a weird funk that was killing the mood.
Coming over to this side of the lake wasn’t something I did very often nowadays, as most everything I needed was within the small radius of Edgewood. Crossing the bridge to get to the ritzier side of our area felt both off and out of place now that I was no longer coming over here to hang out with my best friend on a regular basis.
And even then, I’d always feltothered.
Coming from a working class family and a single mom raising four kids all on her own, Ellington Heights had been less than kind to any of us. We’d gotten more noses turned up at us and biting remarks thrown our way that bordered on harassment, simply by existing within the same stratosphere asthe rich and privileged and daring to think we were just as good as them.
It was a sad reality to be thrust into at a young age, but had toughened us up for what the real world would eventually have in store for us.
Meeting Avery had been my saving grace.
At least until I screwed it up by falling in love with him like an idiot.
“Brandon? You okay?”
The second a hand brushed against my arm, it sent me jumping in the opposite direction.
“Shit, sorry.” Max held up his hands apologetically. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Slapping a hand to rest against my racing heart, I let out a slow breath. “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to space out like that.”
He shot me a sympathetic smile. “Not one for crowds?”
Well, that wasn’t exactly it.
It wasn’t like I was partial to anything.
The problem with being back in Ellington Heights after avoiding it like the plague since graduating high school, was that coming back here was slapping me in the face with the fact that this damn place held too many memories. Having been friends with someone like Avery whose restless spirit kept us from staying stagnant for too long, we’d explored this place from top to bottom and then all over again.
