Page 42 of Finding Solace
"Hey, everything okay," she answers on the thirdring.
"Yeah, babe, everything is good. Listen, you feeling up to going by River's today? You've got to take care of your Grams' will." I ask her. The line is silent. I know she'scontemplating.
Hearing her exhale, she answers, "Okay. It's time I take care of it. Will you go with me? I think I can get off an hour early today if I asknow."
"Yeah, Kitten. You need me. You got me," I tellher.
"I'll just meet you at his office… and, Reid?" She says pausing, "I loveyou."
"Love you too, beautiful. I'll see you later," I tell her before we end ourcall.
A few hours later I'm pulling up in front of River's office building to find Mila sitting in her car waiting. Hearing the rumble of my bike she gets out and slings her bag over hershoulder.
"Hey," she walks up to the side of my bike after I've backed in beside hercar.
Hangin' my helmet on my handlebar, I pull her into my lap while I'm still sitting. "Hey, babe. Been waitinglong?"
"Maybe ten minutes. Not long," she tells me and runs her fingers through my hair before tracing the tattoo on the side of myhead.
"You ready?" I askher.
"Ready," she responds kissing me before shestands.
Getting off my bike, I grab her hand in mine, and we walk inside. We don’t have to wait because River is standing outside his office door and ushers us on in. Taking the two seats on the other side of his desk we sit while he walks over to a large file cabinet and pulls out a sealed manilafolder.
"Thanks for stopping by, Mila. How are you holding up? I haven’t seen you since the funeral," River inquires sittingdown.
He hands the envelope over to Mila, and she answers him, "Doing better, River. Thank you forasking."
"Everything's there," he tells her as she pulls the papers out and starts to flip through them. "She left you everything. The house, which was always in her and your grandfather's name. And the money. You'll have to sign some papers before I can transfer everything to your name. That should only take a couple of weeks before everything gets finalized," he informsher.
Quietly she sits and takes her time reading everything. When Mila finishes looking it over, she hands them tome.
"How long did Grams know about the money?" Mila asksRiver.
"I'm not sure. Mrs. Scott, your grandmother, brought me legal papers and other documents your grandfather left behind that she found buried in her closet. That’s when I discovered the money and told her about it. But that was also after she came in to draw up her will shortly after being diagnosed with Alzheimer." He tellsher.
"So, it’s a good possibility she nearly… forgot. That she didn’t even remember anything about the money?" Milamumbles.
It makes sense. I don’t think her grandmother would have kept something like that from her. She knew how hard Mila worked to make ends meet and the sacrifices she made through life. If she would have remembered, she would have made sure Mila knew and helped herfinancially.
"You ready to sign papers today, babe? Or you wanna wait?" I askher.
Sitting straighter, I see the strength I admire in her shine through, "I'mready."
She signs everything and walks out of the office thirty minutes later, and we head straight to Logan and Bella's house to pick up Ava. Since Bella kept Ava all day, it makes the rest of the evening grind less hectic on Mila when Bella offered to feed us dinner too. I picked up the slack for awhile just after her Grams passed because let's face it, Mila has been through one thing after the other for awhile now. Eventually, everything finally caught up with her. So, I stepped up my game and put my nonexistent domestic skills to use. It wasn't always smooth running. I'm still learning all the curves that come along with taking care of a four-year-old. I don't know how Mila has done it by herself for solong.
Logan and I are sitting outside on the deck in their backyard while we watch Ava play with a puppy. Logan told me he was thinking of surprising Bella with a dog the other day when I swung by the clubhouse to have a few beers after work with the guys. "You realize in a few months you'll have piles of shit the size of boulders in your backyard, right?" I lean back in mychair.
"It's what she wanted, brother," hestates.
We both stare on as Ava plays tug of war with a Great Danepuppy.
"That dog will be bigger than Bella is," Ilaugh.
"She'll make a good watchdog. Who's gonna mess with her if she has that walking beside her," Logan pleads hiscase.
Mila and Bella walk out the sliding glass doors bringing Logan and I a glass of ice tea. Snagging her by the waist, I pull Mila onto my lap, and Logan does the same withBella.
