“Hey, Jude, ignore him,” Matthew acknowledges Tysen being a pain in the dick.
It’s Tysen who pulls me in for a hug and taps me on my back before asking, “You good?”
“I’m alright,” I answer honestly. Is anyone ever in this situation? “We’ll go into my office to talk.” Matthew greets me the same way Tysen did when he shakes my hand.
“Not a bad idea. I’d have suggested having this conversation in my office, but I know leaving the girls isn’t an option at this time.” The only time we’ve left the house is for Rory to make a statement with Matthew present and toeing the line since he rarely touches anything outside of estate planning yet will step into whatever role is necessary when we need him. Everyone has helped in some form or the other. Trent stopped by Bobbi’s apartment, made sure the investigators were thorough, as well as the clean-up crew. The girls rallied, boxing up every single item my sister and her mom owned in the apartment with care and delicacy. Rory’s room came here, and the rest of the items were put in a climate-controlled storage unit, and I gave my sister the key. I knew she’d want a few things of Bobbi’s and didn’t want her to think she’d ever have to ask.
“That bad?” I ask Matthew. When he shakes his head, I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Thank fuck. The girls are in the living room, playing a video game. Ronnie’s letting Rory kick her ass since my sister is terrible and kept ruining my profile.” I’ve set Rory up her own account, letting her get the hang of the game, plus it keeps her mind occupied. Ronnie has a spare she didn’t tellme about and likes to sometimes get on it in order to start over to keep her skill level up.
“Your girl is the shit,” Tysen relays, stating nothing but facts.
“That she is.” The guys follow me through the house. Ronnie looks up, nods, and I do the same. Luckily, Rory is focused on what’s going on with the screen for the time being. She’s been back and forth emotion wise, it’s to be expected. Still, it fucking robs me of air to breathe when my sister seems okay in one instant and sobs the next. When the anger comes out, that’s a whole other story. I let her have at it, using me as punching bag. All I can do is tighten my muscles until she crashes. Which she does shortly after, apologizing while holding on to me or Ronnie.
We walk into my office, Tysen closes the door behind him, and that’s when I know shit is about to get intense.
“How are things going with the guardianship paperwork?” There are formalities, even with Jeffrey sitting behind bars without bail. When Bobbi fought, she fought with everything she had, injuring Dad enough that escaping became impossible. A knife to the gut will do that to you. It didn’t help save Bobbi. Hard to do when you’re being strangled, but she gave it her all till the cops came barreling into the apartment, breaking down the door. The protocol to give him medical care pissed me the fuck off. He deserves to die a thousand deaths. Prison is too kind for the likes of him.
“The state has no problem handing guardianship over to you, but they’re asking for a DNA test. Standard protocol. And as long as you’re the only living relative or one who will takeRory in, everything will be good to go,” Matthew lays down some shit. Worry seeps through my bones at the thought of someone, anyone, trying to take Rory away from my care.
“What’s the likelihood of that happening? Bobbi doesn’t have any living relatives that I’m aware of. Jeffrey, on the other hand, does. A great aunt or some such shit who lives in Michigan. Never had anything to do with my childhood.” The woman is older than dirt, lives in a shack, and is on a fixed income.
“Rory would go to you, pending DNA.” Matthew leans against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. I’m sensing he’s been pulling a lot of hours between what’s going on along with his own practice.
“I appreciate it, more than you know.” I swallow down the lump threatening to form at the thought of everything we’ve got going on and how my friends, who are more like family, had no problem dropping everything they were doing to help me.
“Know that,” Matthew replies.
“We all do,” comes from Tysen. “Which leads me to the next order of business.”
“Already working on therapists, for Rory and myself.” I’d balked at the idea, until Rory asked if I would go with her. Then, in bed, Ronnie mentioned it being a good idea, too, even told me she was in therapy several times throughout her life. And while she still has her hangups, Rory said it’s ten times better than it used to be. Our talk went well into the early hours of the morning, and a big part of the ink on her skin helped her face her fears. Plus, Zane would never allow his sister to be a blank canvas. The fact she has workdone by other artists not at his studio, well, he gives her hell about it every time he sees the new ink, and that’s without her latest tattoo.
“Alright. Well, then it comes as no surprise to you that Ma said to call. She’s got food to drop off, too, but doesn’t want to bombard you all when we’ve been traipsing in and out.” That sounds like Loretta Vaughn. “This is straight from her mouth. You know as well as I do the situation never sat right with her, so word for word, her statement: ‘I have not one single problem about doing what I have to do to make Jeffrey Ellison sit and rot in prison for the rest of his life. If that means giving depositions or getting on the stand, I will.’ I swear Ma is a force to be reckoned with.”
“Tysen’s mom isn’t wrong. I wouldn’t be able to take them or do any of it due to the conflict of interest, but if we need them to keep Jeffrey behind bars, we’ll do whatever we can.” Matthew moves away from the wall to look at the wall of screens and what I’ve been working on before life happened. An app is simulating on them right now, moving from one frame to the next.
“How long have you been working on that?” Tysen asks. Everyone knew about the government contract, mainly because those cameras were used wherever I could until it was tweaked just right.
“Too fucking long. Any time I turn in what I think will be the finished project, they send it back and ask for the dumbest adjustments. It’s their money, though.” I shrug my shoulders. They’re now paying me by the hour since they ran through the allotted time on our contract.
“Seb is going to have a field day with it.” Matthew ischuckling. The app is as crazy as the owners who reached out for me to put together. It caters to a younger age group with its bright colors, lots of flashing between each sequence, and for every match you make, it gives you higher points. Then you can go into the ‘store’ and design your character, a house, and landscape.
“No doubt about it. Good thing Winnie and Johnny put a time limit on his tablet.” I grunt, remembering I’ll need to go to the store at some point today. Rory needs a new phone and a laptop since she’s decided to take the rest of the school year off in class and chose to go the online route.
“No kidding. Alright. I’m going to have an associate stop by and administer the DNA test on Rory. We’ll get the results, and in the meantime, I’ll draft the guardianship paperwork. There’s a slight chance you could be asked to take parenting classes,” Matthew tells me.
“I’ll do whatever needs to be done.” That includes getting my sister behind the wheel of a car. Bobbi wouldn’t let me help them, not financially at least. Groceries? Sure. Phones for both of them? Yes. School clothes for Rory? She never blinked. Anything else, she held her head high and worked to provide for them.
“Good. I’m heading home.” Matthew makes for the door.
“He’s gotta get home to his pretty little housekeeper. How long until you go after what you want, Matty?” Tysen pulls a Jagger, probably because he’s not here, and it’s easy to get Matthew riled up about the woman who’s at his house more than he is.
“Fuck off.” Matthew doesn’t say another word, just takes off and leaves us laughing.
“How long do you think until he finally takes a bite?” I ask Tysen.
“When does she turn twenty-one again?” Matthew asked me to run an ID she gave him without digging too deep, and I did, looking only for a birth certificate. The license Letty Burns is carrying around is fake, a decent one and good enough to get into a bar, buy what you need to, but anything else, it could be easily picked apart by any level of law enforcement.
