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“Don’t you look nice,” I said finding Lou in a suit. “You sure you want me in there with you. I didn’t bring anything near as nice as that to wear.”
Lou held up a jacket.
“What’s that?”
“I got this from my grandmother’s closet. I think it was my granddad’s. I knew that nothing Chris or my father had would fit. And I figured you would feel more comfortable at the reading if you had something formal to wear.”
I dropped my towel, pulled on a pair of underwear, and then tried on the jacket. It was a little short in the sleeves and tight around the chest but it wasn’t bad.
“What do you think?” I asked modeling it for him.
“Umm, yeah,” he said stammering and starting to sweat.
“Thanks,” I said taking it off and getting dressed.
I had taken a long time in the bathroom. What can I say? I had just seen Lou naked. But because I had, we only had time to grab a muffin and head to the living room next to the piano.
Everyone stared at me when I entered.
“What is he doing here?” Chris asked coldly.
“I asked him to join me,” Lou declared.
“And he did, all the way from 1950,” he said referring to my jacket.
“Will you be quiet, Christopher. If Louis needs his…,” she fought to say the word, “fiancé with him at a time like this, then have some respect,” his mother said with shocking kindness.
“Thank you, Mother.”
Lou was trying to pretend that her gesture hadn’t meant much to him, but I could see that it nearly brought him to tears.
His father, who had been talking to a grey-haired man with more polish than sincerity, turned and addressed the group.
“Now that we’re all here, we can begin. For those who don’t know, this is Tom, he was the executor of mother’s will.”
“Doesn’t Tom work at your law firm?” Lou asked staring at him strangely.
“Yes, he does. Tom is one of the partners there.”
Lou’s neck cricked as if processing something that didn’t make sense.
“But wasn’t the lawyer who managed Grandma Aggie’s estate the one responsible for her will?”
“Your Grandmother made a few changes in the last weeks of her life. One of them was to allow my firm to execute her wishes,” his father said not making eye contact with his son.
“But, why would she do that after working with the firm for her entire career?”
“For God’s sake, Louis. Your Grandmother changed the executor. God knows why. Can you please just accept it and allow the man to do his job?”
Lou stopped talking and stared at everyone with a crinkle rippling his forehead.
“Thank you, Martha,” the man said addressing the room. “This will be short and quick,” he said holding up an envelope. “As you all know, Aggie made substantial changes to her will in the last weeks of her life.”
“She what?” Lou asked confused.
The slimy man pulled a letter out of an envelope and read.
“I, Agatha Armoury, being of sound mind and body hereby leave the entirety of my estate to my son Frank Armoury to distribute as he will to all of my living relatives. I make this decision without prejudice and of my own desire. May the Armoury legacy be in good hands for generations to come,” the lawyer said looking up from the letter.
