Page 11 of Harman

Even the inside was painted black and gold in the school’s colors. Katie had missed the football season this year but was looking forward to it come next fall. Her love of sports and football was something that she dearly missed while working so much.

After they ate, Jimmy looked reluctant to bring up business. He’d been having a wonderful time, too. His face glowed with happiness. Then, when he did get down to work, he had everything that he needed to do for her lined up, with paperwork to go with it. Since it was after lunch, the crowd had left, and the three of them had an uninterrupted lunch meeting.

“I know this is a lot to ask of you, you only being the Griffin attorney from now on but I don’t want to have to start over with a stranger. If you could do this for us, Hannah and me, then I’ll be greatly appreciative.” Katie told the older man that it was her pleasure to do that for him as he’d always been so good to her. “I sometimes think that I made you do more than your abilities, but you shocked me time and time again by getting things squared away. After a while, I just stopped thinking that you’d not get something finished up. You’re a brilliant attorney.”

“Thank you, sir.” He nodded and handed her the paperwork that he’d just pulled out of his briefcase. “You want to sell me your business name?”

Acting surprised was hard to play at. She was surprised that he was actually doing it, and Edwin hadn’t been kidding around with her. They couldn’t lie to each other, but she didn’t know if joking was part of lying.

“Yes. I decided yesterday that I could no longer go into an office every day and pick up—or I should say clean up the mess that Jimmy left me. It was just temporary, we told him when we put him there, and he’s exceeded our expectations in fucking it up beyond what I thought he’d have done by now.” She asked him how much, telling him that all her money was tied up in bonds and such. “No, no. I’m thrilled that Edwin is here with you. I’d like to have his company purchase it so that there isn’t any kind of gossip spread around concerning you. You know as well as I do that people will still think that you slept your way into my heart, and while flattered, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Hannah and I were talking last week about how we wished you’d been our daughter. Or I suppose great-granddaughter.” They laughed.

“I don’t know what to say to you. If the price is reasonable, we might just have a deal. But you’ve not said how much.” After handing an envelope to Edwin, he laughed, and Jimmy did too. Pulling out his hand, Edwin told Jimmy that they had a deal. Did he want cash or a check? “You don’t want me to know the price?”

It stung a little, but Edwin simply handed her the envelope. Inside was a small scrap of paper, much like someone would take a phone call number on. When she saw the number, she had to pull it out to really look at it. Edwin just purchased the entire building, contents as well as the firm name for one dollar. It was a good deal, she thought and laughed when Edwin pulled out his checkbook and wrote a check for the amount requested.

Katie so badly wanted to warn Jimmy and Hannah not to go on their trip. It was difficult to know that they’d both die and she knew all about it. But she’d been warned, no less than a dozen times, that to avoid a certain death this time would mean that they would surely die under much harsher conditions than before. She didn’t know how dying by a plane crash could be topped, but she kept her mouth closed.

After they all parted ways and she headed back to her office, Katie asked for an hour to catch up on paperwork, closed and locked her office door, and sobbed for the stupidity of having magic if you couldn’t save someone with it.

Chapter 5

It had been a long time since Jimmy and his wife had taken any kind of vacation. Even longer since they’d gone out to dinner that hadn’t been attached to some kind of business thing. Tonight, they were enjoying a fine dinner and a glass or two of wine. Then, tomorrow, their adventure started.

“Are you sure that I don’t have to pack anything?” He told her just a change of clothing was all that she needed. “Oh, before I forget, Jimmy, that wonderful young woman that you hired to settle our estate called. She has already sold the houses in England. My goodness, I don’t know why we didn’t think of this sooner. And to think that all you had to do was make a phone call, and things are moving in the right direction for us.”

“I know what you mean, love. I think that by leaving all the money and estates, she’ll know what to do with our savings. With the one million left for us to enjoy our lives in a good way.” Hannah smiled at him, and he felt like he could take on the world. Laughing, he thought about that too as he tossed the suits he’d only just packed out of his suitcase. “No more suits either. I won’t get rid of them all, but most of them.”

They pulled up in front of the restaurant, and he handed out his wife after he was out. Jimmy couldn’t believe that it had been nearly seventy years since they’d met. All the way back in grammar school.

Celebrating nothing was funny to him. But they’d always been tight with their money. Not to go out to dinner at a good place to save money, and they both banked all their extra money in the form of IRAs as well as investing in their rainy day account. As far as he was concerned, it had been pouring for some time now, and he was going to spend the rest of his life pampering his lovely wife.

After ordering a plate of raw fruit and vegetables as their appetizer, they sipped their wine and talked about small things. What would they do with the furniture in their main residence now that they were finished with it? That was when Jimmy told her about changing the locks on all their properties. Leaving Katie to get him the best dollar and for her to inherit their estate.

“I know that’s the best way to do it. I’m just concerned for her welfare. She’s the most polite person I know, and you know that Jimmy will eat her alive if she’s not on her guard at all times. Poor child. I’m also very happy that we’re not going to be here when Jimmy finds out that we really weren’t going to leave him anything.” He told her what the attorney told him. “So you leave him something, a small amount, and he’ll know that you didn’t forget he was our son. Dirty little fucker.”

Jimmy laughed. When he’d been pursuing his lovely wife all those years ago, he thought her to be delicate, too. She was far from it, as he found out when she went with him on a dinner engagement for the firm. One of the guests had made a pass at her—Hannah was more beautiful today than she was all the way back then—and he still laughed to this day when he thought about his friend laying on the ground out the doors to their first home. There was his Hannah, sitting atop the man with her hand holding him down while she continued her conversation with the guest she’d been talking to. Jimmy would say to this day that that was the reason that he made her happy. His wife didn’t take foolishness all that well.

Their dinner was steaks. He didn’t care all that much, but he would eat them when his wife did. He had no reason in his head that he could think of why he did that, but it was a habit he didn’t want to break.

His cell phone went off twice, vibrating in his pocket. Ignoring it to spend time with his wife tonight, she said she was going to go to the ladies’ room, and he should check what was happening. As much as he didn’t want to spoil their good time, he did what she’d asked of him. The first one was from the jail. The next two were from Katie.

After listening to Jimmy go on and on about what he wanted him to bring him in for dinner, Jimmy did wonder at his son being seemingly out of proportion with his previous eating habits. He’d been wanting green beans and mashed potatoes with his every meal. Jimmy had not eaten them as a child. What had he done that had him wanting them now?

Then, he listened to Katie’s first message. She started it off by telling him that she was sorry for interrupting his night with Hannah, but she wanted him to know that their main house had sold just now and that Katie thought it would be a time for a celebration with that, too. The second message wasn’t as chipper as the first.

“Jimmy, I wanted to let you know that Jimmy is going to be brought to the courthouse for his prehearing. I wanted to tell you that now in the event that you might want to go or not. I wouldn’t if I were you. It’s just going to be the same thing as he’d been saying all along. That he wants you to give him the house that he grew up in. And also that you give him his money now.”

Hannah joined him as he finished the voicemail. Asking Hannah if she’d changed her mind about going to see their son before they left. Tomorrow would be a good way for him to be told that they were not going to support him any longer.

“I’ve not changed my mind. If you would like to go, I will be right there at your side, however long it takes.” He laid his hand over hers. “I can’t believe I’m saying this about my own child, but he’s going to have to regroup and figure out how to make his own way in life. I’m finished with his ass.” Jimmy laughed.

“You’re a delight, love. An absolute delight that never ceases to amaze me. No, I’ve not changed my mind, but I did want to make sure that you hadn’t changed your mind when I tell Katie that. She’s sold our home, too.” Hannah told him that was a cause for celebration. “Katie said the same thing on the voicemail she left me. I do need to let her know so that she doesn’t need to reserve any seats for us. She said she thought the courthouse was going to be packed to see Jimmy get his comeuppance.”

“Again, this is something else that I wished we’d done before.” Shaking her head, Hannah smiled at him. “I know that we don’t have much longer to be around. I’m well aware, too, that most elderly people our age have been shoved away in the nursing home. Jimmy, I never dreamed that you and I would spend sixty-five years together. I love you more today than I did then.” He told her ditto, something that they’d been saying to each other since they met and had fallen in love. Then he told her how much he loved her.

After calling Katie and letting her know that neither of them had changed their mind, she wished them a good night, and he told her that they’d see her when they returned. If they returned. He thought that he’d like living on an island for the rest of his days. He and Hannah had a good night, just talking about the things that people their age talked about.

They talked about their age and how well they got around. He also knew that because his wife had done volunteer work at the nursing home years back, they were the exception rather than the norm when it came to their longevity. Both were in their early eighties and not sick or having too much wrong with them was something that very few people could enjoy without being in a great deal of pain all the time. Yes, sir, Jimmy thought. He was finally enjoying this time when the two of them were together.

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