Why him? That’s what caught him most off guard. He made it clear to his father that he wasn’t a fan of him. He kept up the barest relationship with him. Out of all the children, he should’ve been excluded. He kind of felt bad that he wasn’t.
Ezra sat in a daze while his siblings and their spouses asked questions. Clara quietly listened, taking it all in in case she needed to help her husband with it later. They all decided to wait to accept the money, so they could set up secure accounts and decide the best use for it.
They all left the office together without talking. They were thrown into the same circumstance, yet for a moment it held them apart. They were too shocked to register anyone aside from themselves.
“Ezra and I were wondering if you’d all like to get dinner,” Clara said as they walked to their cars. “It’s been so nice seeing you, and it might be good to have time to decompress after such lofty news.”
“That’d be great.” Rebecca smiled, grateful for the distraction.
“Yeah,” Kaden mumbled, still just as stunned as Ezra was. “Where should we go to?”
They came up with a plan that Ezra had no input in. No longer interested in dinner, he still couldn’t comprehend how crazy his life had become in one sentence.
5
Ezra never really considered even the possibility of having a million dollars in his bank account, but if someone had asked before this how he’d feel about it, he would’ve probably told them he would be happy about it. Obviously. In other circumstances he would’ve been happy about it. Anyone would be. But getting money like this… It felt wrong and he kind of hated it.
After such a turbulent relationship with his father, it made him uneasy to benefit from him in such a huge way. He felt guilty for not talking to his father more beforehand, yet he also wouldn’t have wanted to talk to him just because he thought he could gain financially. It was a complex situation with lots of crazy emotions and though he didn’t want to come off as ungrateful, he kind of wished he never had to deal with it at all.
He didn’t know what to do with the money. He wished he could give it back, but that wouldn’t be fair to Clara. So, it sat there. They went about their daily lives like usual and Clara didn’t ask him about it. She didn’t even mention it. She let him take time to process it, and he couldn’t have loved her more for it.
Since it was his day off, Ezra worked off some of his complicated thoughts in the kitchen. He had bought a fine cut of lamb, some fresh vegetables, and some homemade pasta to make for dinner. Cheesecake was already baking in the oven, greeting Clara with a heavenly scent when she walked through the door.
“You are too good to me,” she said as she kicked off her shoes. She walked into their huge kitchen with its ample lighting and a million kitchen supplies and went right for the espresso maker.
Ezra turned and kissed her, interrupting her path. “You deserve it,” he said. “Don’t tell me you’re making coffee though. It’s seven o’clock at night!”
“I’m exhausted,” she replied, and she looked exhausted. Her posture was sagging, hair out of place. A bit of red reached through the whites of her eyes. “It was a long day at work. Lots of complaints and issues to deal with. I honestly hate the people who own the hotel. I thought being the manager of such a luxurious property was going to be fun, but it comes with a whole host of issues.”
She leaned against the counter. She was interested in travel, in vacations and making sure everyone had a good one. She enjoyed hearing people’s stories and loved the idea of running a cozy inn, but this was not what she envisioned when she went into a career in hospitality.
“You don’t need coffee,” he said. “What you need is sleep and some time to relax. We should go to bed early tonight.”
“But I want to stay up and spend time with you.”
“I want to see you doing well,” he said. “Dinner will be done soon. Why don’t you take a moment to relax? You’ve been talking about wanting more time to finish that Stephen King book. Why don’t you do a little reading?”
“I’m not sure I have enough energy to focus on the story.” She laughed. “But I can try.”
As she became absorbed in her book, Ezra finished up dinner. He got out their finest, black, gothic-style place settings and dished them each a gorgeous dinner. As he carried the plates over to their ornate mahogany dining table, an idea came to mind. He lit their fall scented candles. Turned the lights down low.
“How romantic,” Clara cooed as she joined him at the table. “You are truly the best husband I could’ve ever asked for.”
“And you are the best wife. I’m curious though, if you could ask for more in this life, what would you want? I know your job is getting you down, so if you could do anything, what would you do?”
She could’ve quit her job with the money they had, but Ezra hadn’t dared suggest it. Clara needed a purpose. She loved keeping busy. He suspected she might be offended if he tried to interfere with that.
“Good question.” She tried some of her lamb as she gazed thoughtfully at the candle. “This is going to sound silly, but I wanted to become a hotel manager because of the books I read. Unique inns and such always sounded so mysterious and lovely. I wanted to hear other people’s stories and become part of them in some small way. I thought it’d be interesting to hear about where
