Page 12 of Jack

“That sounds a little classy, don’t you think?” He explained to her that he wasn’t going for classy but for comfort food. He said that creamer to him would be a comfort over the little cups of dried creamer would be. “I suppose so. I think that if I were going to drink any of them, I’d want the real creamer as well.”

After he left her, she continued to sit out on the deck. She was surprised when her grandma found her to learn that she’d been back there for nearly four hours. It had been nice and quiet with just the trees and plants for company. Now, her grandma was like a cherry on the top of a banana split.

“I’ve heard from Hudson, and my changes have been made. Now all I have to do is go and sign it so that it can be filed.” Taylor asked her if she was happy with the changes. “I am. Knowing that I’m not going to overly burden you with all the extra work does make me feel better. And speaking of which, I’ve decided to go on a cruise for a month. I’ve not done anything like that in decades and I think that I’d enjoy getting away while Gilda is getting taken care of. Did you hear that she’s demanding a larger condo? I thought that she had about the biggest one they had in that development.”

“She wants me to have one built for her that has several bedrooms so that she has room to spread out. I don’t know what she’d be spreading out for; she rarely leaves the living room, and I don’t believe that she’s ever been in the kitchen of any place that she’s lived in.” Grandma asked her what she wanted to do. “To be honest, I have no idea. I’m angry with her so much that I want to cut all ties with her. She needs to grow up.” She didn’t say anything.

Leaning her head on the back of the lounger, she was happy that, for now, at least the subject was finished. She knew that she was going to have to deal with her sooner or later, but for now, she was going to rest and regroup. Something that she’d not done in a very long time.

When she woke up, she realized that at some point, Jack or someone had brought her into the house and laid her on the couch. Jack was lying on the other couch in the huge living room, apparently reading a book. She sat up and had to lie back down quickly. She was about as light-headed as she’d been in a very long time.

“Are you all right?” She said that she didn’t know. “While you were sleeping, I made some discoveries about my own magic. You have some as well. I didn’t bring you in here but you just disappeared from the porch to the couch. I think you got chilled or something. Anyway, I’d gotten back about an hour ago, and that’s when I was going to bring you in.”

“Did you do that, or did I?” He said that he was pretty sure that it was her. “I see. I don’t really, but I’m trying my best to figure out why I’m so dizzy.”

“It’s the magic for when we came together as a couple.” Sitting up, she looked at him. “Are you better now?”

“I think so. It’s a great deal to take in, don’t you think?” He got up off the couch he was on and sat with her on the one that she was on. “I’m feeling better, but I have this strange feeling of being two different people. Like, I have a cat right there with me. Is that possible?”

“I don’t see why not.” That wasn’t all that helpful, and she told him that. His laughter made her smile. He really was such a wonderful person, and she loved him so much. “There is very little that we know of in taking mates. My grandparents raised us when my parents abandoned us one year. They were old then, I remember thinking, but they didn’t have much to say about how our parents just dropped us off one day and took off.”

“Well, that just sucks.” He laughed again. “Where are they now? I’m assuming that they’re living the grand life without all of you guys around. By the way, that was sarcasm. I hope that they’re not having a good time at anything.”

“They’re both dead.” She felt her face heat up, and she couldn’t tell him quickly enough how sorry she was. “Don’t be. They got what they deserved, and I’m happy for it. I didn’t know them all that well. I was only about six or so when they did that. But they’d been called before Ronan, the king of our kind, and he had them destroyed by the leap—that’s what you call a bunch of lions. Also a pride. Anyway, they’re both gone and I find that I’m not the least bit sorry about it. They actually blamed us for being born. That pissed us off so much that we had to regroup and think about that. Ten children are a lot, but they could have stopped at any time.”

“My mom sounds like she could have been related to them. She’s always been selfish and childish. I know that it’s not my fault but that of her own parents, but I was stuck with her when my dad died. I don’t know what I would have done if Grandma hadn’t taken us in. Still raising her, Iguess.” He asked her if she was going to be upset if her mother spent some time in jail. “No. I mean, they’ll treat her like all the other prisons and that will be good for her. I’m not saying that she’ll like it, but I really don’t care anymore. I’m worried that she’ll try and hurt you or one of your family members, but I have to keep telling myself that we’re all immortal and we can’t die.”

“You can be hurt, however. So I want you to be extra careful when she’s around. Maybe when she’s not around. I’ve noticed that she can be pretty sneaky when she’s looking for someone to help her.” She nodded because that was what Parker had explained to her and her grandmother. “I know you have to go to the groundbreaking. Just make sure that you’re never alone. I’ll be there too, but I will be a little late. I have to have someone wait for the truck to come in with our food stuffs on it. It’ll be early, but you never know what’s going to happen when a truck comes in.”

She’d nearly forgotten about that. The distribution center was going to be bringing in all her products for the little mom and pop stores she had all over the state and have it separated out for each store. It was going to save time at the stores because they no longer had to have several trucks a week come in for goods but one truck that would bring in everything at once. Sodas were the only thing that would be coming in separately, and that would be set up by the vendor. It was going to be better than she thought.

There would be kinks to work out, and she was aware of that. But to have everything arriving at once would cut down on labor costs as well as getting larger quantities delivered sooner without the cost of several trips by the vendor. She was looking forward to that as much as she was seeing the first store receive their goods. And she’d be there, too. Just like she was going to be at the groundbreaking in the morning. She couldn’t believe that it was finally happening.

The specialized car warehouse was going to break ground in a couple of months. There were still a few things that had to be ironed out in the contract, but it would, along with her place, bring in over two thousand new jobs. The other warehouse was going to be building together break harness assembly and sending them to the bigger places to put into cars. It was going to be a win-win for everyone around town because they were offering new car discounts. She thought that was about the best incentive going.

Getting ready for dinner, she was happy to hear her grandma talking to Jack about the house and how it ran. It wasn’t like he was going to take over someday, but he was curious, and Grandma loved to talk about how her dad had started the house on the way to where it was today. Her favorite part about the lawns was that he’d had the goats, twice a year, come into the front lawns and mow it down for nothing. That, too, was the main reason that none of them had ever been near any poison ivy, as the goats would strip down to the root and kill it. Even along the gates and gates around the compound were taken care of by the goats to this day. It was good for the air with no gas and also for the lawns as there were no chemicals sprayed around to get rid of it along the paths as well. Smiling when Grandma got to the part about the apples and how they were watered in the spring, she knew that Jack would be out there when the time came to make sure that it was going according to Grandda’s plan.

Chapter 5

“I don’t understand what this is.” Taylor handed the certified mail to Jack and sat down when he read it over. “It looks like my mom is suing me for something. I can’t think where she thinks I’ve stolen her money.”

“She’s saying that you never gave her half of the insurance money from when your father died. Also, she’s claiming that she’s never received any kind of compensation from his work. She’s blaming it all on you and your grandmother.” Taylor asked if she had realized that she’d only been three weeks old when her dad had died. “She doesn’t say anything like that, no, but I think she’s saying that you and your grandmother have had her on some kind of budget since you were old enough, and now she wants all her money.”

“We tried that once before. About ten years ago. She wanted to have unlimited access to all the money that had been keeping her in money, and within a few days, she was nearly broke. I would love to give it all to her and say have at it.” He told her that she should do that. “I’m sick of being my mother’s keeper, Jack. It’s like my whole life, I’ve been caring for her needs instead of my own. Now that I have you in my life, I just want to be the person that I should have been when I was a child. She never let me become the child but her constant caretaker all my life.”

“What will your grandmother say? I’m sure that she got the same letter as you did.” They found out that not only had Grandma gotten the letter, but she was just as pissed off about it as Taylor was. “It says here that the meeting will be in two days. Not a lot of time to get anything set up for it.” She asked if Ivy could be her attorney. “You’d have to ask her. I can’t see her having any trouble with it. She’s having a good time being an attorney.”

“I’ll call her today. I have all the notes on how all the money was distributed. I also have the information on how the checks that came in were cashed and sent out as well. Mom and I were the benefactors on his insurance, leaving fifty grand to us both. It wasn’t a great deal, not by today’s standards, but with Grandma’s help, I was able to make it into a couple of million before I turned eighteen.” Jack told her that was great. “Mom hated it. Spending money to make more? She thought that she should have been allowed to have it all at once, then she’d be able to make her own investments. She changed her mind or something. I don’t remember why she didn’t get it all, now that I think about it.”

“You said you tried once before to give her the money. How did that turn out?” Taylor told him what she remembered. “So she had all this money and didn’t know what to do with it other than to buy expensive things? How did you get her on track again?”

“She begged us to keep her on a budget then. It was as if having the money overwhelmed her somewhat, and she couldn’t take it.” Taylor laughed. “She even had us take all the things that she’d purchased, mink coats, jewelry, and other high-end items that were still in their original bags back to get them out of her house. I don’t know why she thinks this time will be any different.”

“I’d make sure that I told Ivy that, too. I don’t know that it matters other than she’d be in charge of her own things, but perhaps you could tell her that this is the last time you’re going to bail her out.” She told him that she’d already told her that the last time. “Good, then she can do what she wants. It will be one less thing that you have to worry about with her. I saw her in town the other day, and I was amazed at how bad she looked. It’s like she’s given up all sense of good manners and dressing. She had on a sweatshirt with something on the front of it, plus a pair of short shorts that were much too small for her frame. Almost like she’d given up on being well dressed.”

“She’s claiming that we’ve stolen everything from her, and she doesn’t have the funds to do anything. Which is a lie. She has open accounts in every store along the main roads and a few specializedplaces like where she gets her hair and nails done. I don’t know what’s wrong with her.” Jack pointed out a couple of things. “Yes, well, there is her trying to keep us apart. It hurts me a bit that she is so set on us not having children. I thought everyone wanted a couple of grandkids to have on their laps.”

“You talk to Ivy, and I’ll go downtown to Jack’s Place. I’ll have to go back there tonight for our dinner hours, but I don’t anticipate being late. I want to go in now and make sure that things are set up correctly. I don’t know that we’ll be all that busy on our first night.” She just smiled at him. She thought that they’d be busy all night and would have a great deal of fun while they were at it. “Reach out to me if you need me. I’ll have someone cover for me on Thursday for your court hearing. That way, I can go with you.”

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