Page 31 of Spoil
His grin is wolfish before it sobers.
“I’m meeting with my lawyer tomorrow, too. To add you two to my will.”
Waffles forgotten, I slump onto the dining room chair. “Daniel...”
But he holds up a hand and shakes his head. “I have no one else. My sister’s gone, my parents don’t need it. Currently, it’s all going to charity, but now that I have you two...”
I shake my head. “It’s just a lot... I... I’m grateful. I truly am, I’ve just never seen so much money... I... I don’t know what to do with it.”
“Spend it, save it, buy a boat, I don’t care.”
Like he didn’t just give me half a million dollars. We could buy a house, but we can’t move out and leave Gen and my sisters. We could definitely afford to fix the back deck. Maybe pay off the mortgage? I’d have to ask Gen how much the house is mortgaged for in a way that doesn’t let her know about the money.
“I’d like to take you guys out tomorrow. Maybe dinner and a movie? The zoo? The aquarium?” I nod. I can make Gen and the sisters something easy before we go.
“I’d like that.”
“And I’d like you to quit your janitor position. You’re working too much, Nell.”
I nod slowly. “I’ll think about it.” It would be nice not to have to shepherd Danny around DC in the early hours of the morning. She loves Aunt Cara, but getting up at two in the morning to go to a different place to sleep isn’t great. But Chastity and Grace aren’t reliable, and Gen’s so far deep in her self-wallowing, I don’t trust her with Danny, either.
I could say that I’ve saved up the ten thousand and pay for the deck in cash and quit, and they’d never know about the rest of the cash. I can’t believe I’m going to go to the bank tomorrow and cash a check for half a million dollars.
I’ll definitely put most of it aside for Danny’s college fund. The idea of my little girl going to college fills me with pride and longing. Someday, too soon, she’ll be out on her own, forging herown path in life. And Daniel just gave me the means to make it happen.
We hang up so I can focus on the rest of the waffles and getting my day started.
The front door swings open right as we sit down to eat, and Chastity and Grace walk in, still wearing cocktail gowns and carrying their shoes. They toss their purses and shoes haphazardly by the front entrance, and I tense.
The check is in my bag. They can’t see it, but their proximity to it makes me anxious. If they found it, they would absolutely not hesitate to take it. They’d find some way to make me cash it and give it to them. They’d ask why I have access to that much money — who I’m talking to. Who I know. It would blow the lid off everything with Daniel. And I can’t have that. Not yet.
I’m about to ask Danny not to tell her aunts about Daniel, but don’t get the chance before they burst into the kitchen loudly laughing and talking about who they danced with the night before. My stepsisters’ entire goal in life is to find a rich man and convince him to marry them. They frequent galas and country clubs, polo games and charity events, always dressed in designer clothing so they look the part. It’s not the path I would be taking, but I really do hope they find someone who can make them happy. Because they don’t seem happy unless they’re chasing a suit or rubbing elbows with the elite.
Gen will be devastated when they marry and move out, but it’s inevitable. Every girl grows up and moves out - whether it’s with a partner or to pursue their own thing, adults need wings.
Except for me.
Chapter fifteen
Penelope
Later that night, after I put Danny to bed, I step out of the basement door into the night, leaving it open just enough so I can hear Danny if she stirs.
Danny and I moved to the basement when she was born. Her crying in the middle of the night for feedings wore on Gen’s nerves terribly, and Chastity and Grace would complain when they would try to sleep in. So it just became easiest for us to move to the basement. With an entire first floor between us, her cries didn’t wake them at night. It’s unfinished, but we’ve made it cozy. Our mattresses may be on the unfinished cement floor, but we have dozens of blankets and pillows, and have hung blankets from the unfinished walls to give them decoration and a little insulation.
I wrap a blanket around me to ward off the chill of the night, pull my phone out, and dial Cara.
“Tell me everything. Now,” Cara says before the call has even connected all the way. I can’t help but chuckle.
Cara’s autistic. She’s a brilliant computer wiz who taught herself to code before she was ten and became emancipatedat fifteen so she could attend college early when her parents refused. They never could accept their neurodivergent child when they had two neurotypical ones. But she’s thrived on her own, and her blunt form of communication is refreshing to me. You always know exactly where you stand with her and what she thinks about you.
“Well, good evening to you, too,” I tease, a smile tugging at my lips.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she quips back, and in my mind I can see her twirling her hand like she does when she’s annoyed with small talk.
I lean against the wall of the house as I ponder where to start. I guess at the beginning.
“You know how I got a new job at a sex club cleaning?” I mean, of course, she does. That’s why I drop off Danny, but it seems like the best place to start.
