“Yes, I’m doing well. I was calling to see about my inheritance.”
“Wonderful. Well, it’s a lofty one that should have you set for a number of lifetimes. Your mother had us draft up quite the plan for you. I’d like to meet with you and go over it.”
Meet?
My heart started to pound hard, and I reached for my chest to rub over it. I didn’t want to meet. I couldn’t meet him. What if something happened and…
“Brandon?”
“Um, sorry.” I cleared my throat and sat up straight. I didn’t know how to get out of this now, but I didn’t want to meet. “I don’t know if I can meet. Can’t we do it over the phone?”
“Well, I really need to go over it with you and give you all of the account numbers and information.”
I wasn’t comfortable meeting with anyone. James, Dr. Chisholm, and those two FBI agents were all that I trusted right now.
“Brandon, I know somewhat about what happened. Would you feel better meeting me away from the office? Perhaps I could come to you instead,” Jeffrey countered.
No. I didn’t want him to know where I was at. I didn’t feel right in allowing someone to come to James’ home without his knowledge. I thought about the restaurants that were nearby and remembered the address to a retro diner because the numbers stood out to me on the side of the building when James and I had driven passed. It wasn’t far from James’ house and was in walking distance.
“There’s a retro diner in the area. Would that be okay?” I suggested.
“Yes, absolutely. Just give me the address and what time you’d like to meet,” Jeffrey eagerly insisted.
I closed my eyes and pictured the diner and focused on the numbers as I recited it to Jeffrey.
“Excellent, I know exactly where that one is at. It’s been there forever.” He laughed. “I can meet you there in forty minutes, if that works for you?”
I glanced at the blue digits glowing from some electronic by the TV. James said he’d be home around six, and we’d have dinner. Six o’clock was over two hours from now.
“Yes, I’ll meet you inside,” I agreed.
After I hung up, I paced around the living room, unsure of what to do next. I debated about calling James and telling him, but I didn’t want to disrupt him at work. I was already enough of a disruption for him. But I didn’t feel right in just leaving either. What if he came home early, and I wasn’t here? Maybe he’d worry or kick me out. I couldn’t risk getting kicked out. He meant too much to me already.
I pulled on my navy zip-up hoodie and grabbed the key to the front door he had given me. Before I left, I wrote him a quick note that said I was going for a walk. I signed my name and then under it I wrote ‘your pup.’ As I stepped onto the porch to lock the door, the heavy humidity pressed down on my chest like a ton of bricks. The sky had turned overcast, but there were still pockets of bright blue sky.
James’ neighborhood had a lot of hills, and palm trees lined the streets. The homes were all large with incredible views of the ocean, which was cool if you were into that sort of thing. And I guessed since they all lived here, they probably did enjoy the ocean. By the time I made it out of the neighborhood, I had pushed up my sleeves and was winded from the heavy air. Maybe soon I could start jogging with James and get back to the shape that I was in before Sebastian.
At the crosswalk, I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and then ran my fingers through my hair.It was so nice to get a haircut the other day,I thought to myself as I felt my freshly cut hair on the back of my head. Just on the other side of the busy street was the retro diner that I was meeting Jeffrey at.
While I waited for the pedestrian signal to let me know when I could cross, I heard a rumble over the noise of the cars. I looked around me, but nothing seemed out of sorts. Suddenly, something hit the back of my hand, causing me to jerk. I looked down and saw water. As I watched dark circles begin to form on the pavement, my heart began to pound. No! Not fucking rain! Quickly, I pulled my hood up over my head, stuffed my hands in my pockets, and silently urged the traffic gods to turn the fucking pedestrian light for me.
“Fucking come on,” I urged.
Finally, the light changed, and I sprinted across the street. I dashed through the parking lot and just barely missed being hit by a car. Fuck. Memories of getting hit in Eli’s parking lot came racing back. I darted up the wooden steps of the diner and stood under the covered awning to collect myself before I went inside.
Eli had been so caring that rainy day, and I didn’t understand why he had turned on me. He kept me at his office with him, and we had pizza. He gave me a blanket and set up a space heater by me so my pant legs would dry, and I would warm up. The sound of the light rain hitting the metal awning just about drove me insane. With each pitter-patter of water overhead, I found myself blinking and expecting to feel the water on my face. I hurried into the diner even though I knew that I wasn’t calm, but I had to get away from the sound.
I didn’t realize just how shaken I was by the rain until I went to pull my hood off my head. My hands shook badly, and I physically struggled with unzipping my hoodie. I felt really cold all of a sudden and regretted coming out to meet the attorney.
“Hi, welcome in,” a short female server welcomed me. As she walked closer to greet me, she glanced down at my zip-up hoodie. “Get caught in the rain?”
Why do people ask question that had obvious answers?
I nodded and looked down to escape her stare.
“Would you like a table, booth, or would you like to sit at the counter?”
I looked up and gazed around the seating area at my options. I assumed Jeffrey would have paperwork, so I thought a booth might be best.
