Page 69 of Head Over Heels

He throws his hands up in the air and chuckles. "I'm not committing to anything without talking to the wife."

"You're smarter than I give you credit for." She winks at him. "Although if I were married to your wife, I'd probably feel the same way."

He looks up at one of the gold coins on the wall. It's marked as "Gold Aureus of Julius Caesar (44 BCE)." I remember seeing the appraisal for this one. It's worth over a million dollars.

"Joe, that issofar out of your price range. Feet back on the ground, buddy." This comes from Cole.

He nods. "I know. Still, it's amazing to think of the history this piece of metal has witnessed."

Florence puts her hand on her brother's arm. "It doesn't have eyes. It's probably been in pockets and hidden in trunks for the last two thousand years. It hasn't seen anything."

29

Josie

I hand Florence a beer as soon as we get home. "Sit. Relax." I park myself next to her. "Would you rather be at your house with Marin?"

She squints at me. "No? Why do you ask that?"

I pull my leg up under me and turn toward her. "I don't know. I imagine it's nice to have someone around to do everything for you."

She shrugs. "I'm busy enough with work that she makes my life easier. Mostly she alleviates the stress of doing all the little things."

"Like making you dinner and doing your laundry?" I tease.

She elbows me. "Yes—and picking up the dry cleaning, going shopping, making phone calls and appointments, keeping track of things like my lawyers, specialists like my brother's numismatist, my nieces' school things, all that stuff."

"I wouldn't trust anyone to do all that for me."

"You have to find someone you trust, but it's well worth it—for me, at least. I could do all of it—but it really takes the stress off me." Her eyes light up and a smile spreads across her face. "Hell, she walked in on us making out in the closet, turned around, and never mentioned it again. She's walked in on me getting myself off, too." She laughs.

"I would die of mortification." I feel my face heat up in embarrassment.

"You know, assuming you get everything figured out with the estate on time, you'll probably need to hire someone to deal with all this stuff. Have you thought about what you're going to do with all of it?"

"A little." I groan softly. "I want to figure out a way to donate it to the types of people—well, their families—that he stole from. It's impossible to trace individual pieces, but there has to be something…" I trail off, thinking. "I want to get rid of it all, except maybe a few pieces." I haven't ruled out the idea of having kids, and planning for the future—with or without kids—is my main priority.

"Why don't you just let it all go, then? Just let the time pass and pretend like none of this happened."

I raise an eyebrow and look at her incredulously. "A quarter billion in other assets, the penthouse is worth almost thirty million, and the other stuff is worth—" I shake my head in amazement. "A billion, on the low end." I look down at my hands. "I feel like I owe it to the world to try to balance the horrible things he did and use his money for good."

"You can never counter the horrible things that happened, Josie. Don't put that on yourself." She scoots next to me and leans against me, her body soft and warm.

I wrap my arm around her shoulders. "I don't. But I'm also being given the resources to make a difference. I have to think about it, though. I need to focus on getting that money so hisdirty fortune doesn't go to the Vanderveens. I don't know them at all, but I'd guess they're money-hungry and would grab at the opportunity if they knew about it."

"The Vanderveens aren't bad people. They're obsessed with money in an unhealthy way, but they aren't evil or anything."

"Do you know them?"

"Father and son own the Tower. I assume that's who the estate would revert to, if you don't claim it. Landon Senior and Landon Junior. I've met Senior once. Junior a few times."

"How do you know them?" It seems unlikely that they grew up in the same circles. I've gotten the impression her family was lower-middle class when she was growing up. She and all her siblings have worked hard to get to where they are now.

"My sister Hettie married Junior. She's also my personal lawyer. She'll take care of the contracts for the coin purchases."

"Wouldn't that be a conflict of interest for her?" I frown.

"Not if she doesn't know. Honestly, even if she did know, it wouldn't be. They have a prenup, so she doesn't have any rights to his properties. I don't think she's ever heard about the penthouse in the Tower."

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