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She’d expected them to cut the three million dollars down to one million or less. The goal was to get anywhere from one and a half to two million. They could get more going to trial for sure, but it’d be long and drawn out and her client didn’t want that. She just needed to pay her bills that were piling up before she lost her house.
When the counter came back at one and a half million she’d wanted to jump for joy. First time out, it was a win, but she was going to try to get more for her client and went back with two million. It’s what she did, got the best she could. It’d be expected they’d go back and forth a few times.
Her client would still easily net over a million after legal fees and that had been the ultimate goal with the amount of debt Gabby had piling up.
“That’s great,” her father said.
“I know. This is huge. I needed it. I mean, it felt like a slam dunk, but that means nothing. A slam dunk could still take years, but I don’t see it. I countered and it’s in her court from there.”
“This will be your first big settlement amount, won’t it?” Caden asked.
“I can see it in your eyes,” she said. “You’re waiting to see how much of it you can invest. The bulk of it goes to Brian. I’m not sure my piece yet.”
The firm would get thirty-three percent after excess costs, of which there hadn’t been much. Brian would decide what to give her from that. He’d made an offhand comment about ten percent of that, which was fifty thousand as it stood if the car dealership didn’t budge.
The thought of getting that much at once was something she couldn’t have imagined years ago working in a not-for-profit and just getting a paycheck.
So yeah, that one check was almost three times the cut in salary she’d taken to come here. And it was one case of many she’d be doing a year.
“Nothing like watching your money grow,” Cal said. “Shares of my father’s Apple stock got me started.”
“What?” Caden asked. “Do tell.”
“Oh man. Here we go. Nerd talk,” Sarah said when Caden started to rub his hands together.
Cal laughed. “Back in the late nineties my father played four numbers in the daily lotto and won five thousand dollars. He felt lucky and told my mother he was going to take a risk and invest it. They threw a bunch of names in a hat of companies they were going to take a risk on.”
“Your father bought five thousand dollars worth of Apple stock over twenty years ago?” Mia asked.
“Yeah. I didn’t know any of that. Or I didn’t remember. After he passed it all came to me. I used his life insurance to buy the liquor store. Or secure the loan. I just kept rolling my money over. I never wanted to touch that when I realized how much it was worth, but in the long run I knew I could do more with it too. Or make a difference. It’s never good to leave all your apples in one cart.”
“You’re speaking my language,” Caden said.
“I ended up cashing out half of it to get to where I am today. I couldn’t bring myself to cash it all out.”
Her jaw dropped listening to this.
Brian had said Cal was a self-made millionaire, but he still had a nice nest egg in investments and she’d bet it wasn’t just in that stock either.
A lot of his wealth was assets, she knew. Rental properties and businesses. She didn’t know all of his revenue streams or how he paid himself. It wasn’t her concern and she wouldn’t ask.
Weeks ago this would have made her feel inferior, but today, it just made her proud of the decisions her boyfriend had made.
“Good decision,” Caden said. “Right now there are some stocks I won’t sell, and that is one of them.”
“Do I have any?” Morgan asked, walking in the door. “You know I don’t look at those things. I let you do it all and I just care about the statements. But the truth is, I don’t even look at them when they come in. It’s not like I’m going to cash anything out.”
“You both have shares in Apple and many others,” Caden said. “I’m pretty smart with my family’s money.”
“Yay me,” Mia said. “Then I’ll consider giving you some of my settlement.”
The talks of investments stopped after that when Sarah’s parents came in followed by Harris and Kaelyn.
Mia got to play with toddlers and hold babies.
She got shooed out of the kitchen by her mother and Sarah’s mother, Gina. Even Sarah was pushed out and told to go relax with everyone else.
Cal seemed to get along with everyone, but no one was a stranger to him either, other than her parents.
