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I went behind the bar and ran my tips through. Including the cash, I made three hundred, so I felt a little better. Mandy was paid fifteen an hour, so I would have that extra, too. It wasn’t much, but I wasn’t about to do the managing bartenders’ job on a waitresses’ salary. I often thought about taking a bartending job, but I supposed I was just comfortable. Change was…I didn’t enjoy it.
Once I rang my tip out, I started the tedious task of wiping every surface down, then putting the chairs up just to mop and then put them back on the floor. I cleaned the bar area and prep area. I balanced the cash register and then I was finally done in two and a half hours. But I stayed thirty more minutes to finish out the hour, counting my cash and planning how I would make it through the next two weeks.
2
Adley
There were times when I wished I could talk to her. My grandmother. Sometimes it was just too much. Too hard and overbearing for me to do it on my own. Saturday morning, I woke up, checked my bank balance online, laughed at my debts, and watched my Youtube on my phone. I didn’t have to pay for that.
I only scored my place in Manhattan out of luck. And by begging the landlord a little bit. I wished I had been smarter in school, maybe got a scholarship to go to college or something. But when Grandma got sick, I couldn’t do much of anything. My high school diploma was given to me out of kindness, I think.
Grandma would tell me to keep looking forward, because our eyes weren’t made for looking back. But things were so much better behind me, and in front of me wasn’t looking very good. It had only been a couple months since she passed. I couldn’t afford a fancy funeral or anything else. But she died somewhat peacefully—in her sleep. At least I had that.
I had been avoiding the meeting forever, but I had to see her attorney. I didn’t even know she had one, nor did I know she had a will either. I imagined she left me her furniture, and her collection of Days of Our Lives videotapes. Grandma didn’t have much, but she had me. I didn’t have much either, but I had her.
Now I had nothing.
I dressed in my nicest jeans and a respectable long-sleeved tee. My blonde locks never listen, so they went up in a bun. I stared in the mirror. My green eyes were dull, my face tired. Maybe if I was drop dead gorgeous, I could score a rich man or something. I was only half joking. Even still, my hips were too round. My body wasn’t anything special, and I wasn’t either.
I had to take two subways to get to his office. It was above an old apartment complex, and was an apartment itself. The waiting room was the detached living room. He called me into his office, and we had to pass through the kitchen to get there.
“Thank you for finally meeting with me,” he smiled gently. I sat in his office, across from his wooden desk. He was an older man, but had some kindness to his face.
“Yeah. Sorry, I haven’t been able to.” It was partly true that I had been working so much. But it was also to avoid this, and avoid having too much time to think.
“That’s okay. I know it can be hard. It’s like…you accept the fact and then you have to go back and open old wounds.” He offered a kind smile. I tried to return it, but I hadn’t done much smiling in a long time.
“Um. Yeah. Kind of like that. I didn’t even know she had a will,” I said in response.
He started going through some files in his drawer before he drew one out.
“She was your grandmother, correct?” he asked me.
“Yeah.”
His thick brows furrow together as he read. From what I could see, some things were highlighted.
“She has no surviving children. No sons-in-laws either.” He stated. I nodded.
My mom, her daughter, died of a drug overdose when I was a child. I didn’t even remember her anymore, which was heart-breaking in itself. All I had since then was my grandmother. Dad had never been around and my parents never got married. So, it really had been just Grandma and me.
“No.” I wasn’t sure if it was even a question, but I affirmed it. He sighed deeply and met my eyes again.
“Okay, you ready?” He smiled.
“I suppose.” I shifted nervously in my seat. I was hoping I wouldn’t be told my grandmother left me a million dollars of debt. I was way off.
He read right from the paper. “Cecilia Brown leaves her sole surviving relative, Adley Brown, her estate, holdings, belongings, and everything such included. The sum of these is to be released immediately.” He stopped. “That’s the important stuff.”
I sat back and stare, not really understanding. “She left me everything?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, what is everything?” My grandmother didn’t even have much. Not that I could remember. She had moved to a smaller place when I moved out. Before she passed I knew she lived in some tiny town, but I didn’t make it out to visit often. Which was stupid, I should have cherished the time I had with her. Another regret.
“Her house on Fishers Island. All the belongings in it, including the ones in storage. And a sum of about…one hundred thousand dollars.”
I nearly screamed. Where did all that money come from? Was Medicaid that great?
