I picked up that page and glanced at the notes he’d written first. In a tight scrawl, he’d outlined some concerns, but the one that jumped out at me was a passage he’d highlighted excerpts from.
Subject to and expressly conditioned upon compliance with the requirements set forth herein… the second party… shall not be entitled to… any proceeds arising from the sale, assignment, transfer, conveyance, liquidation, or other disposition of the condominium… unless and until the Parties have entered into a legally valid marriage… and such marriage has remained in full force… for a period of no fewer than twelve consecutive months.
I looked up at Ron. “Wait—what?”
He grimaced and nodded. “He wants to withhold funds until you marry him. And stay married for a full year.”
I read it again, over and over until my eyes started to glaze. It was written to sound so complex, but I saw what he was demanding. “He can’t do that. Can he?” My stomach ached with an intense anxiety at the thought of being tied to Phillip for another full year or more. Andmarried? What was hethinking?
Ron shook his head and chuckled. “He definitely cannot. Not without your signature, which he doesn't have. Glad you didn’t just sign blindly. This would be different if it were an inheritance—they can always set conditions on those—but since you two bought the condo together, we can make a legal case that the proceeds of the salemustbe split evenly. Don’t worry. This is an open-and-shut case. I’ll draw up thecorrectdocuments and get them over to you in the next day or two. Sound good?”
I nodded and let out a shaky breath. “Thanks again, Ron.”
“Of course. I’ll be in touch.”
I stood and exited the office, making the walk back to my car quickly, my mind racing. He tried to trap me into marrying him. Over what amounted to maybe a hundred thousand dollars. What the actualfuckwas happening to my life?
Chapter 23 - Asher
“Hey, Ash, can you come here for a minute?” The voice was Jake’s, so I stepped away from what I was doing and went to see what I could do for him.
I found him standing just outside, staring up at the roof of the post office, grimacing and shielding his eyes from the sun. “What’s going on?”
He sighed deeply and turned to me. “It looks like there’s more damage up there than we initially realized.”
“Oh, shit.”
He nodded and pressed his fingers to his temples for a moment. “Turns out, there are some trusses that are going to need to be completely replaced.”
My stomach turned at the thought of having to get on the roof. “We’ve already installed the decorative woodwork,” I protested.
He grimaced and nodded again. “We’re just going to have to redo those later. The roofer found some wood rot while he was up there. At least two trusses need to be completely replaced. We’re going to check the rest, but…”
“Yeah,” I murmured, grateful that Tyler would be the one going up on the roof to pull the measurements and install the trusses.
Jake glanced over at Max, who was watching another shot unfold nearby, before looking back at me and continuing. “I don’t know how we missed this during the initial inspection. I thought I’d covered every last square inch of this place.”
I shrugged. “It happens. Don’t be too hard on yourself. I'll have Tyler get up there first thing tomorrow and measure so we can start cutting and building.”
Jake clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Thanks. I knew you'd be on it in no time.”
I headed back inside to keep working on things when I realized that my apprentice was nowhere to be found. “Anyone seen Tyler?” I was met with a round of “nos” and shaking heads. He was one of the most reliable guys I knew, so I wasn’t terribly concerned. He’d be back, I was sure of it. A few minutes later, I got back to work. One of the reasons I liked working in carpentry was the fact that there was no room for distraction. Everything needed my focus and careful attention. There was no space for letting my mind wander to how I’d rather be spending time with the hot set designer instead of using the jigsaw, for example.
By the time Tyler had rejoined me, I was mostly done with the cuts I needed to make. I killed the power to the saw and looked up at him, pulling my safety goggles off. “Everything okay?”
He shrugged and tilted his head side to side a little. “Sorry about that. It’s my sister. Her baby is on the way. My mom just called to let me know they’re all headed to the hospital. First grandchild and all.”
I beamed immediately. “Tyler! That’s awesome!”
“Thanks.” He grinned back. “Itispretty exciting.”
“What are you waiting for? Go!” I made a shooing motion with my hands.
He gestured at the roof. “Jake said some trusses need to be replaced. I was just going to go up and measure them before I left.”
My chest squeezed tight when I put the pieces together in my mind. I shook my head vehemently. “Absolutely not. Get out of here. Go.”
“But—”
