Page 17 of Meet Me on Greenwood

"But—"

"Going to this reading and communicating the good news is the only option. I will stall. Give me a call as soon as you are done." She squeezed my hand before waving us off. I sighed as my car pulled away leaving Maise to deal with the dumpster fire that was my company, my life’s work.

We made the short drive from my father’s home to midtown where the law office was located that he used to practice at, where I found Bri in the waiting room curled up with a man who looked like he might be homeless. She was wearing the same clothes she’d worn to the funeral the day before and she smelled like cigarettes. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"We missed you at home," I managed.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Go on and say what you want to say. It is all over your face."

I looked up at the ceiling that had the original wooden beams from when it was first built. "You hate me," I breathed. "I get it. Let’s get this over with so we can go back to our lives."

The man beside her stirred. "You ladies need to chill."

I scrunched up my face as I smelled the old cigarettes and body odor coming from him "I don’t know who you are, but you need to leave."

He stood tall, towering at least a foot over my 5’3 figure, which only made me angrier. Before he could say anything, an older man with a smooth bald head walked towards us.

"Wow! Look how you girls have grown. I haven’t seen you since you were maybe this high," he said motioning halfway up to his knee. I’m certain he’d seen the altercation between me and the strange man, but he didn’t acknowledge it "It is good to see you. I was your father’s law partner before he became a judge. Edgar Benton."

I shook his hand. "It is nice to see you again Mr. Benton."

He waved. "We don’t need formalities. Alfred was family here." He moved to shake Bri’s hand, but stopped when he saw the unfriendly look on her face. Finally, his eyes slid to the unidentified man.

"Ah, how about we go back to my office. We have much to go over." When the man started to follow, he paused and fished out a hundred-dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to the man. "The ladies and I will be awhile. Why don’t you get them each a cool beverage, and we will be back before you know it," he said with a wink.

The man seemed bewildered as he looked between Bri and the money in his hand. Bri sighed loudly before saying, "Get out of here."

That seemed to be what he wanted to hear because he left without another glance back.

Edgar's office was at the end of a long hallway lined with framed cases and diplomas. The floors were original hardwood, worn smooth in the center where decades of footsteps had traveled the same path. It smelled like old paper and leather, and something faintly woody that I couldn't name.

I stopped in the doorway.

It wasn't Edgar's office I was looking at. From the built-in shelving and the bay window, and even the medallion where a fancy light fixture hung from the ceiling, I recognized it immediately.

"This was my father's office," I said.

Edgar paused in the middle of settling into his chair and looked around the room with pride. "Sharp as he always said you were. Yes. When Alfred made judge, he left the practice to me. I never had the heart to change much. Felt like I was borrowing it more than owning it."

I moved further inside, letting my eyes travel across the room slowly. The shelves still held case volumes and several framed pictures. I noted one that showed Edgar and my father. They couldn’t have been older than thirty. Two young men in suits, standing in front of the building we were currently inside, squinting into the summer sun, and grinning as if they’d won the lottery.

I picked it up without asking.

"1984," Edgar said quietly from behind his desk. "The day we took the keys and opened this place. The owner took a chance on us, leased it for nothing. He liked that we specialized in Civil Rights cases then. Your dad was a trailblazer."

I looked back in surprise. "I thought he was a wills and estates lawyer."

Edgar shrugged. "That is what we became after some time. The money is easier, and fewer nights away from you kids."

I set the photo down and set in the chair next to Bri.

Edgar pulled out a briefcase. "Are you ready ladies?"

We both nodded and he spun the numbers until the lock clicked open. He handed us each a file with our name on it. "I’ll let you read through, but you’ll find that he left both of you a small trust that you can draw from every year. There are conditions such as having a clean record, maintaining employment or volunteer work. It’s all very routine."

I read through, seeing that I could pull out two hundred thousand dollars a year, unless I got married and had kids, and then it went up one hundred thousand per child. My shoulders deflated a bit as I realized the money still wouldn’t be enough to keep my company open.

Bri pulled out a pamphlet that had a brick building on the front. "What is this?" she asked in alarm.