Page 103 of This Memory
I swallowed back my sob.
“If you’ll have a seat in here, Mr. Hoffman will be right in,” she said, escorting us into a small conference room.
“Thank you,” I said, as Gavin pulled out a chair for me at the table.
“Would you like anything to drink?” the young woman asked.
“Water for me, please,” I replied.
Gavin smiled politely. “Nothing for me.”
The door shut, and we both looked around the room.
“The night they died,” Gavin started to say, staring at a framed photo of New York City. “I told Declan I wasn’t sure how they were going to be able to travel back and forth to Boston so much with a newborn.”
I watched him as he spoke, not taking his eyes off the photo.
“I made a mental note to ask Denny about it. Would they stay in Moose Village, or did they plan to return to Boston?”
“They were going to move back to Boston,” I said softly.
Gavin snapped his head around to look at me. “What?”
“Evelyn told me they planned on keeping their house in Moose Village, but they’d be moving to Boston full time. I think their firm had wanted them there full time anyway, so it would have happened with or without the baby.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I ran my finger in a circular pattern on the wood table. “Evelyn asked me not to. She said Denny wanted to be the one to tell you.”
“They were planning on taking the baby away from us?”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed sadly. “It’s their baby.”
He smiled slightly and shook his head. “I guess they would’ve had that right.”
All I could do was nod and whisper, “Yeah.”
The door to the conference room opened, and a man about our age entered. He had short brown hair and dark eyes. He wore black slacks, a blue button-down shirt, and a blue tie. His polite smile didn’t reach his eyes, though.
“Thank you both for coming in. I’m Thomas Hoffman,” he said, placing a file in front of him and reaching his hand across the table to each of us in turn. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
I could see the grief on his face. “I’m sorry foryourloss, as well. You briefly mentioned going to school with Evelyn and Denny.”
His smile grew a bit warmer as he sat down across from us. “We did. Denny and I met first, and then he introduced me to Evelyn. We all got jobs in Boston after law school. Evelyn and Denny at Hammer and Hammer, and I worked for my father’s law firm. We branched out to Lake Placid, and I was so happy when Evelyn and Denny said they were moving to Moose Village and would work remotely, half the timethere and the other half in Boston. We always said we’d get together more often and…” His voice trailed off momentarily before he cleared it and went on. “We just never made the time for anything other than business.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
Mr. Hoffman waved it off, but I could tell he was just as torn up about losing his friends as Gavin and I were.
“I know this isn’t typical, but I wanted to meet with you in person because of the circumstances of the situation. Evelyn and Denny updated their will when they found out you were pregnant, Brystol. I thought it was a good idea…I just never dreamed it would be needed.”
Gavin handed me a tissue when the tears started. “Thank you,” I managed to get out. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hoffman.”
“Please, call me Thomas.”
With a nod, Gavin replied for both of us. “Thomas, it is.”
“This is going to be pretty straightforward. As I’m sure you know, neither Evelyn nor Denny had any close relatives. Their will didn’t change, save to add who’d become the baby’s legal guardian if anything should ever happen to them both.”
