“Blaire,” I whine. “I’m tired. The test can wait.”
“No. The sooner you find out, the better. You don’t want him to think you kept this from him too.”
Damn it; I really hate it when she is right.
Chapter 29 Rowan
“What do you mean they are coming here tomorrow to break ground?”
I clutch the phone in my hand until it creaks, threatening to break under my hold. “You guys aren’t supposed to be coming here at all. I’ve sent the paperwork five times. I’m married. You can’t break ground, and if you show up here, we are going to have big problems. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.” I hang up the phone and toss it across the room.
It slams against the wall, shattering the screen into a thousand pieces. Damn it. That’s the third phone in two days.
“Okay, you keep doing that, and we are going to have to start buying bulk of those,” Gray says as he leans against the door, like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
Must be nice.
“That may not be a bad idea. Do it. Order like five hundred of them.”
“No. Learn to control your temper. I’m not spending our money on something as silly as cell phones because you are pissed off mommy took your favorite toy.”
I narrow my eyes at him and grab my envelope cutter. I shouldn’t throw this too, right? That would be bad. “Mommy didn’t take away anything.”
“Really? So, this has nothing to do with someone’s name, starting with ‘Ever’, ending in ‘ly’? Just curious.” He plops down in the leather chair sitting in front of my desk.
“What do you want?” I groan. “I have enough to worry about. Apparently, the people with the bulldozer are going to be at the estate tomorrow to tear it down. I thought everything was in order. But they are saying they don’t have that part of the contract. They had the nerve to tell me, whatever was in the will was wrong.”
“Well, could it be? How much of a trickster is your dad?”
“He wouldn’t tear that place down,” I say out of habit, but it got me wondering. I don’t live there. No one lives there anymore.
Why would he tell me to get married if the estate would be torn down anyway? I lean back in my chair, the leather creaking as I do. I twirl the pen through my fingers. My wedding ring catching the light. Damn, I miss my maddening wife. I really, really do. I’ve tried reaching out to her, forgetting Gray told me that she lost her phone and can’t afford a new one. The only time I’ve seen her is at our parents’ funeral, and I didn’t have the energy to talk to her.
I was actually coming off of a whiskey drinking spree to try and forget about her, but it didn’t work.
“I say call the lawyer, do it now. I want to be witness,” Gray says.
“That’s a great idea.” I pick up the desk phone and flip through my address book to find the lawyer my father used. I press the speaker button and wait.
“Gaulding and Associates?” the clerk answers.
“I need to speak with Ray Gaulding. Tell him it is Mr. Michaels calling.”
“One moment,” she says.
The hold doesn’t last long, and when Ray answers, he seems a little too jovial. “Gaulding here.”
“Is there something about my parents will that you didn’t tell me about?” I seethe.
“Ah, I see you have run into the problem. Yes, I wasn’t allowed to disclose that with you until after you got married. You see, it says that if you married a Ms. Everly Madison, the estate is going to get torn down regardless, but the money still goes to you. All of their material possessions of been moved to a storage unit to be sorted and sold. You can, of course, take everything you wish to keep.”
“Then why bother having me get married?”
“Let me get my glasses. He left a note.”
There is a bunch of fumbling. Something falls and shatters on the floor, and when he comes back on the phone, he is breathing hard. “Got them. Okay, he says, and I quote, ‘He has always loved that girl, and she’s always loved him. He must think I’m blind. The estate gets torn down because it is time for him to make new memories. If I didn’t threaten my hand, he would have never married her because they are both stubborn and don’t know how to forgive.’”
I tap my fingers against the desk and sigh, “Yeah, well. You can tell him he doesn’t know shit. And thank you for your time,” I say a little nicer, before slamming the phone on the receiver.
Gray lets out that long whistle he does when he can’t believe something. “Wow. Your dad is a legend.”
“Gray, do you see the problem? I’m married to a woman that wants nothing to do with me. My childhood home is getting demolished. And I have no idea where the inheritance is even going. Yeah, this is a problem. There has to be a way to stop it.”
“Why do you want to? You live in downtown Spokane. You hardly ever go there. Why keep it?”
“Because that’s my home, man.”
“No, your home is in New York City right now. Home isn’t a place. It’s a person. That estate has no people, Rowan. You need to learn to let go.”
Let go. I love it when people make it sound so easy. If I could let go, I would. I don’t want to hold onto all this pain and resentment. I want to move on with my life, with Everly. I just want to know where she is!
“Have you spoken to her?” I ask, rubbing my temples with my fingers. I
