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She does have a point. I wryly smile, nod, and stand from the couch, pushing down my sweatshirt that has risen. I follow her into the kitchen.
Just as promised, my coffee is in a mug and ready for me at the table. Something tells me this will be a serious chat, and Heather isn’t going to let me off the hook about last night.
Pulling out a chair, I take a seat. Then I lift the mug to my mouth. If we have a long talk, I’ll need all the caffeine she’s offering.
Heather sits in the chair opposite me. She’s not drinking her coffee, just waiting for me to get enough fuel in me to hold a proper conversation.
“Why didn’t you come to me in the first place?” she asks as I place my mug back down on the table.
“It was late.”
She shakes her head, not buying what I’m selling. “That is no excuse, and you know it.”
I try again. “I didn’t want to wake you . . . ?”
“Again, not a good reason. Plus, eventually, you did anyway.”
She has me there.
“I know.” I look down toward my bare feet. “I was embarrassed,” I admit.
A long-drawn-out sigh escapes her mouth. “Payton, we have been best friends for years. There’s no need to be embarrassed in front of me. We all have been in a bad place before.”
“Thanks for not asking questions when I showed up at your door.”
“One look at you, and I knew you wouldn’t have been able to answer anyway. But now that I know you need help, it’s a different story. Tell me. Tell me everything you have managed to leave out up to this point.”
And then I do. I start from the little bits I now know and fill her in up until last night.
I tell her Ronald left all this money to me, Trent is in charge of releasing the funds, and that shoe finally dropped like a lead weight.
Everything is gone.
Will he have me declared dead next? I think I saw that in a movie once.
Just like that, everything is gone in an instant all over again. How many times can that happen to a person in a single lifetime? The rug completely swiped out from under me, all because of whatever Trent has in his mind that I’ve done wrong to him and his family.
After I finish, I let out a sigh. “I just don’t know what to do.”
“It’s your money. He shouldn’t be able to do this.”
“Technically, it’s not my money until I turn twenty-two.”
“Not too far away. But doesn’t Ronald’s estate have to pay your bills?”
“Well, technically, they do. The problem is, Ronald never stipulated how much that means. It’s not written anywhere how much I’m allotted to live off. Basically, it’s up to Trent’s discretion how much I need until my birthday. I should have realized he wasn’t just going to be fair. I should never have deluded myself that he wouldn’t let me live my life as is.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Agreed.” I lift my mug and take a sip. My throat is dry, but despite the heat, I need something to help.
“What are you going to do?”
Swallowing, I place the mug back down. “I don’t know.”
“You can fight it.”
“I don’t have the funds to fight it until I’m twenty-two. And no attorney is going to take my case out of the kindness of their heart. I can’t afford a retainer, and Trent is likely going to be successful in screwing me out of my inheritance.”
