Page 102 of Hound Dog
Damn. I was hoping for a better answer. One that would make me feel better about giving us a real shot.
“Oh, come on,” Meryl said. “Get that judgy look off your face. Not everyone is a serial monogamist like you. And it’s hard to date in a small town like this. Everyone knows everyone. You’re always dating someone’s daughter or niece, or your mother is friends with their mother. Just… give him a chance, baby.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe I was worrying too much about this after only having one date. We had a couple weeks left before I went home to Rochester. We should just enjoy that time together.
Then, if I wanted to extend my stay, there was nothing holding me back from doing that.
I tossed the covers back and stood, pulling the knee wheelchair over for Meryl. “What do you say I make this year’s birthday pancakes?”
Meryl clicked her tongue as I helped her to her feet. “You can’t make your own birthday breakfast! It’s against the rules!”
“Don't you think this year has some extenuating circumstances?”
Aunt Meryl huffed as she rolled toward my bedroom door. “Fine. But I’m making the whipped cream. You never do it right.”
As we crossed to the door, my cell phone rang.
“Who the hell could that be?” Meryl asked, looking at the time.
Weirdly, it was to-the-minute of my birth time.
I picked up the phone from my nightstand. “I have no idea.” The caller ID said it was an unknown caller from Los Angeles.
After sliding my thumb across the screen, I held the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Ms. Haylee Rogers?” A woman’s voice said.
“Uh… yeah.” I gave Aunt Meryl a look and rolled my eyes, holding my hand over the phone speaker. “Probably a scammer,” I whispered to her.
“My name is Morgan Blutton. I’m the estate manager for Stan Skinner, your father.”
The room grew hot and stuffy at the sound of my father’s name, and based on Meryl’s widened eyes, she must have also heard his name.
I put Morgan on speaker so that Meryl could hear our conversation. “Okay,” I said carefully. “I’m not sure why you’re calling. My dad made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with me.”
Morgan cleared her throat, and I heard the clack of fingers on a keyboard. “Well, that’s not entirely true. When you were born, he set up a trust fund for you. And after his untimely passing, he left all his assets to you and your mother. Your mother only took a small stipend for child support monthly and asked that the rest be put into your trust fund … which your father had arranged for you to inherit when you turned twenty-four.”
With wide eyes, I gaped at Aunt Meryl. “Did you know about this?”
She shook her head. “I swear, I didn’t.”
Morgan coughed politely on the other line. “Mr. Skinner was quite explicit that he didn’t want you or anyone other than your mother knowing about the trust fund, and he had her sign an NDA.”
My heart was racing, head spinning, and I was pretty sure every inch of my body was covered in perspiration. “But… why? Why wouldn’t he want me to know or be able to use my money for things like college.” Oh my God. All those student loans I took out.
How much easier would my life have been if I’d had more than a few hundred bucks in the bank at any given moment?
“Mr. Skinner wanted you to have a normal childhood. He wanted you to work hard and choose a path for yourself. That’s why he chose the age twenty-four. It was enough time for you to get an education and start a career. But he also wanted you to be able to quickly pay off any student loans you had. It’s all explained in his letters. He very explicitly wanted this call to happen at the very minute that you turned twenty-four.”
The very minute.
He knew the exact minute I was born?
Of course he did. My one and only picture with him was in the hospital. According to my mom, he made it there in time for my birth, but she didn’t let him in the delivery room with her.
I fell to a seat on my bed, the old bed frame creaking beneath me.
“My whole life, I felt like I never had a father…”
