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“I can’t believe my mom invited you over for dinner. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. And that you got dragged into a game of Farkle. That can literally go on forever.”
I usher her into my place, rubbing my hands together as we step inside. The weather has turned, with fall settling in and turning the leaves yellow and orange. “It’s okay. It was fun. Billy seems to be doing great.”
“He really is. So much more himself, but happier, you know? They said sometimes the medication can make people feel flat, but he’s still got his personality, so that’s great. And he loves being back at work. He can’t do the heavy lifting he used to yet, and he can’t operate the machinery, but it’s a step in the right direction for him.”
“I’m glad. It’s like a one-eighty from how he was when he broke his ankle.” I pick up the box of files sitting on the couch and catch my foot on the coffee table. I must do it at least once a week, and I have the bruises on my shins to prove it. The furniture is slightly too large and the table awkward to get around. The box tips over, and half the contents dump out onto the floor. “Ah crap.”
I set the box down and push the table out of the way so I can gather up the fallen papers.
“Is that a manual for a VHS player? Those have been obsolete for decades.” Dillion bends to help me clean up the mess.
“Bee kept every manual for everything she ever bought, apparently. You can toss it into the box over there. That’s all for the burn pile. We’re going to have one hell of a bonfire when I’m finished going through her filing cabinets.”
“We can make s’mores and talk about the good old days when things didn’t break within six months of buying them.”
I smile, aware she was referencing Grammy Bee’s irritation with our disposable society. “She registered everything she could for a warranty. I remember when she took back a set of sheets she’d had for twenty years because the seam started ripping.”
“She had Tupperware from the seventies and made them replace it because the seal had gone on something! It was hilarious.”
“And embarrassing if you were in the store with her and she was making a fuss.”
Dillion chuckles and picks up another manual. This one for a toaster. Something falls out of it and flutters to the coffee table. “Oh man, did she even keep the receipts? I wonder what a toaster cost back in the day.”
We’re both laughing when her eyes suddenly go wide and she drops the manual and picks up the receipt. “Oh my gosh, Van. Look at this!” She holds it out to me.
I frown as I inspect what looks like a bond note from the sixties in the sum of $100,000. “Is this real? This can’t be real.”
“I don’t know. That was her bank.”
“Do you think it’s the only one?” We look at each other and then the pile of manuals on the floor.
We abandon the box and start leafing through them, shaking them out one at a time. Each manual contains a single bond note in various sums. Some are as small as five grand; others are worth as much as a hundred thousand. When we’re done with that pile, we go through the ones in the burn box and find even more.
We keep sifting through her files and eventually stumble on her stock portfolio. The most recent statement is from last year; the amount of money is staggering. We sit on the floor in the midst of the discarded papers and stare at the stack of bond notes. Some are in Grammy’s name, others in mine, Teagan’s, and Bradley’s. It makes me sad that he’s put himself in such a terrible situation when, if he’d just been patient, he would have known she hadn’t left him out. In some ways, I wish Grammy hadn’t made us play this game of hide-and-seek, but I understand why she did. She always wanted to bring us together.
“I had no idea about any of this. The stashes around the house, yes, but not this,” Dillion says softly. “I would have said something a long time ago if I’d known.”
“I know you would have. I thought the stashes around the house were going to help me clean this place up, but this could set us up for generations.”
“Are you going to share it with Teagan?” she asks.
I realize then what I’ve said, and how in my head I’ve included Dillion in the us. It’s what I want: for her and me to be something that lasts. But I don’t correct her, because I’m not sure where she’s at, and asking that when we’ve just stumbled on millions of dollars doesn’t seem like the best idea.
