Page 73 of Without You, Scotch and Sammy 2

“How long have you been married?”

He knows this information, obviously, but Sam answers confidently anyway. “Almost fourteen years.”

Joseph nods and starts writing notes. “Obviously times have changed since I got married, but you didn’t take Mr. Turner’s name?”

“We were married so young, and then I knew I wanted to have a professional career, so I wanted to keep my name for that.” Lie. We were married and broken up in less than a week. I didn’t have time to make the official change.

“That makes sense.” He writes some more notes. “Like I said, times have changed, but that doesn’t make your choice wrong. You’ve listed two separate addresses in your paperwork--”

“One is our apartment here in town,” Sam answers smoothly. “The other is our apartment in the city. We move back and forth between them, depending on our work requirements.”

“You don’t think that’s a little unstable for a child?”

“No sir. Unstable would be staying in hotels. But having said that, that was our life pre-Lily. We both have flexible careers, so if you prefer we pick one apartment and stick to it, then that’s fine. We can make it work.”

Joseph smiles approvingly, then jots down more notes and looks up. “No other children at home? No pets?”

“No,” I answer him. “No one else at home, so no one that might become jealous of the newcomer.” I smile, hoping to impress him with my knowledge behind his question, but he just smiles back and continues writing.

“You guys have been married a long time. You didn’t want children of your own?”

“We just didn’t get to that yet,” Sam answers as emotion clogs in my throat. “Like Sammy said, we married young, we both studied hard and took on professional careers. We were getting to the making babies portion of our life, then Lily happened.”

“So what happens to Lily once you decide to make your own babies?”

Sam and I both frown at his implication. “We won’t just be setting her aside like an unloved kitten, Mr. Clay. We love her like she was biologically ours.” I push loose strands of hair behind my ear. “Do you have children, sir?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“More than one?”

He smiles knowingly. “Yes ma’am.”

“Did you toss the first one aside when you had a second?”

He chuckles, but he shakes his head and scribbles notes. “No, Ms. Ricardo, we didn’t.”

“Exactly.”

“Perhaps we could move into finances then.”

“Sure, go ahead.” I take bank statements from my manila folder and slide them across the desk, then my brow lifts as Sam takes out folded paper from his back pocket. Joseph takes my crisp documents, then Sam’s scrunched version, then he scans them side by side. He stares at Sam’s for a little too long, looking a little too closely, so I lean forward in my chair and point at mine. “As you can see, I have homes in five different states. They’re all paid off in full and have a small fortune in equity sitting inside them.”

“Why do you own five homes in five different states, Ms. Ricardo?”

“They were gifted from my parents years ago.”

Sam’s eyes snap to mine, but Joseph continues, “Titles are in your name?”

“Yes sir. I assume my folks were just trying to offset tax debt, but the fact remains, these properties are mine, and they’re fully paid.”

“Will you be holding onto them?”

“I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Sell them. Keep them. Sign them over to Lily in trust.”

“You’ll just sell your parents’ homes?” Sam asks quietly.

With a lifted brow, I nod. “Yup. In a heartbeat. Besides, they’re not theirs. They’re ours, honey.”

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