Page 4 of Unstable

It’s also painful…guess the rumors about the two of them all those years ago were true.

“Have a seat.” Merrick indicates for me to sit directly across from his desk, in what has to be the most uncomfortable looking chair I’ve ever seen, while he takes his own behind it; also resembling something that could double as a torture device.

Image over comfort, of course.

“You know, Henley, we don’t have to get into much today. It can wait until after you’re settled, and the funeral. I’m very sorry for your loss, by the way. Such a tragedy, and you’ve been through more than enough already.”

I immediately shift my eyes left, staring out the window, but the pity in his gaze I’m avoiding still manages to burn into my skin.

“Quit looking at me like that!” I bite out.

“Like what?”

I snap my glare back to him and narrow it in further warning. “Like. That.” I point to his face. “And don’t assume to know everything I’ve been through, how it affected me, or what my more than enough is. You missed quite a bit, and have no idea who I am anymore, let alone my thresholds.”

“And whose fault is that?” He leans forward, trying for that intimidating, penetrating stare of his that used to work on me.

“In the interest of time, let’s stick with what’s always been consensus and habit, and say it’s mine,” I smile wickedly and shrug. “Just do your job. Tell me what I need to sign.”

He sighs, conceding to move on. “Several things, but I don’t have them all gathered yet. Not until you read this over and tell me how you want to proceed.” He slides a manila envelope across the desk to me.

I shift away from it like it’s poisonous, sure my anxiety is apparent on my face. “What’s that? What’s in there?”

He lightly grins, only one corner of his mouth participating. “Open it and find out.”

I was expecting a stack of papers with little colored arrows stuck to the places where I needed to sign: death certificate, releases, whatever. Not mysterious envelopes that contain things on which I must decide how to proceed.

I don’t like the sound of that, at all.

Merrick just furthers my puzzlement when he interrupts my thoughts. “Henley, I don’t understand why you look so confused? The envelope contains your mother’s Will. What’d you think you were coming here for today?”

A facetious laugh bails on me before I can catch it. “Not a Will that left any decisions up to me, that’s for damn sure.”

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