“Your father?” Juke asked.
“The bad news is, it’s my father.” A cold, old ache opened, and I capped it fast.
“I thought you hadn’t seen your father…” Juke asked.
“Since I was a baby, yeah. He basically abandoned my mother, dumped some money for me in a trust, and went on with his life.”
“You’re a trust fund baby?” Freddie asked.
“Ha. I seriously have no control over any money, and Bud isn’t good with talking. I call him when my account gets low, and I try to make some cash to pay for incidentals, so I don’t have to bug him.”
“Basically, your sugar papa has your back.” Freddie grimaced. I knew it hit close for him.
“Yeah, not like that. He has nothing to do with me, and I’m more than happy to keep it that way.”
“But maybe he could help us. Depending on how you want to approach this.” Ori tugged at the end of her ponytail.
“I knew he liked art, but I had no idea he had a collection of ancient pieces.”
“What else don’t you know about him?” Juke asked.
“He’s a top executive with a Silicon Valley tech company that makes medical devices,” Ori said, sliding through screens on her phone.
“He’s not a doctor, but he’s got skills with his hands, or so my mom said. She didn’t talk about him much, understandably, but I pried stuff out of her until I got old enough not to care. He wasn’t around, wasn’t part of our lives, you know?”
“You weren’t curious?” Freddie asked.
“Sure, Ori and I stalked him one night, and the security guards chased us off his compound. He’s got two kids and a newwife. Oh, and two dogs. Chows, I think, and a fleet of expensive cars. He’s a real family man, just not for my family, or ratherme.Honestly, I’m not sure he’d help us.”
“Worth a shot, though, right?” Juke asked, tipping up her sunglasses. Her eyelashes were the same neon green as the ribbons in her hair.
“I don’t even have a phone number. I’d have to call the lawyer back.” I sighed and swiped through my messages. I hadn’t even listened to it yet.
I poked the screen and put the phone to my ear.
“Hello, Ms. Redwood, I’m calling as a courtesy to remind you that we have not received the ancillary paperwork to process the request that your stepfather submitted. If you are having difficulties, please do call me, and I can walk you through the process. Mr. Lin is, of course, supportive of your endeavors, but this lies outside our original agreement and, thereby, must have documentation as per the divorce outline.”
“What documentation?” I mumbled while listening to the voicemail again. I hadn’t asked the lawyer for anything since I’d set the kitchen on fire making chili oil, and we’d had to rebuild it to meet the current fire code. Back then, Bud had called and made the arrangements.
I called my stepdad first. “Hey, Bud, got a minute?”
His long exhale said volumes. “What’s up, Cookie?”
I winced at the nickname, which Bud found hysterical. It was the reason I still let him use it. I loved to make the man laugh and so had my mother. Bud’s laugh lit up galaxies.
“I got a weird call from Worthington. He wants paperwork for something.”
“What paperwork?”
“That’s what I don’t understand. Something about being supportive of my endeavors? Extra filings?”
“Oh, that! I’ll take care of that. Don’t you worry about it. I’ll give him a call.”
“Bud, what are you up to?”
“It was supposed to be a surprise, Cookie. But I guess…”
“What kind of surprise?” Color me interested in anything Bud planned in advance. Bud was an in-the-moment kind of person. The one that liked to deal with future business in the future, if he could, or hire people to deal with it.
