Page 48 of Little Gray Dress

“What? I’m fun! Ask Jack!”

“No thanks.” He scrunches his face up like I’m talking about a private kind of fun.

“OK, kids.” Andy walks in behind us holding a file full of papers. “First thing I need to say is how sorry I am about your mother. The few times I spoke with her she seemed like a great lady.” He drops the file on to his desk and sits down in his chair. “As you know, your parents were quite well off.”

We both watch as he slides on a pair of glasses while opening the file in front of him. “And while there are no stipulations on the inheritance, your parents have made some… requests.”

“Requests?” Evan asks, looking suddenly nervous.

“Suggestions, really. Are we ready?”

“Oh, God,” I mumble under my breath. I know what my parents were like. This might be very bad.

“Let’s start with Emi… You will, of course, receive half of everything, and your parents have suggested that you start living life a little more responsibly and that when you do settle down that you will consider adoption.”

“They think I’m motherly?!” I ask, completely shocked. Children? I’ve never even thought about that. I’m not exactly child-friendly. I curse way too often and I have a hard time even keeping a houseplant alive, so I probably shouldn’t risk it with children.

Kids don’t seem to really like me either. I’m the girl who applauded when a local restaurant I love decided it was going to become adults-only. The news had a hay day with it, but I was just glad to be sitting in a room with no screaming babies or kids asking me why I was bigger than their magazine-picture-perfect mommy. I heard a saying once that made me dislike children even more than I already did. It was: If an adult says you’re fat, they’re jealous. If a teen says you’re fat, they’re an asshole. If a child says you’re fat, you’re fat. So, I think avoiding the little truth-telling jerks is in my best interest, and also theirs.

“Even in death, they ask you be more responsible,” Evan laughs.

“Not so fast, Mr Harrison. You too will receive half of everything, and their request for you is that you take care of your sister and stop trying to populate the earth with every woman you meet. They ask that you find a nice girl and settle down. While they both agreed that you are relatively level-headed, you don’t always make the best decisions. That should change.”

“Ha, ha. See,” I gloat at Evan. “You suck too.”

“Their final request is that we sell their house, you keep what you want from the interiors and focus on the life that YOU want. Invest and save before pissing away the entire estate.” He slides off his glasses and jots a note on two separate slips of paper and slaps them on the desk in front of us. “This is the amount you’ll each receive, and of course, this is minus any taxes or debts that needed to be paid.”

“Holy shit,” I announce, holding the note and glancing over at Evan.

“That’s a bit more than the five hundred I mentioned earlier, isn’t it?”

“That it is, Mr Harrison, so be wise. You two are young, you have a lot of life ahead of you and you’ve now got a head start. Don’t blow it, like I see so often with the young ones.”

“I won’t,” we say in unison, both a little stunned at the turn of events.

“Emi, I know that you live in the house right now. The house was listed yesterday and we’ve already got interest, so I would advise you to be looking for a new place to reside, in the very near future.”

“OK,” I say, kind of sad that this part of my life is moving on without my parents.

“That’s a lot of money, Ems.” Jack stands at the oven cooking dinner for us as I go over everything that happened earlier today.

“I know. AND I have to move, like pronto. Where should I look?”

“Actually… I had an idea.” Jack disappears into his room for a moment before coming out holding a small wrapped package in his hands.

“You bought me a present?”

“I did. And if it’s not something you are ready for, let me know, there is no pressure here.” He nods at the gift. “Open it.”

I’m nervous. I can feel myself holding my breath as I pull the ribbon off and unwrap the black paper revealing a tiny white box. It’s too flat to be a ring box, unfortunately. I glance up at Jack who is standing at the edge of the bar, arms crossed, a smile on his face. Inside the box is a key.

“What’s this?” When I look at him he laughs, but doesn’t give me any hint. “Wait… are you—?”

“I am. I mean… unless you don’t want to? You spend almost every day over here anyway, so why not make it official and move in?”

“Are you sure?” I ask him, worried that he’s doing this only because I need somewhere to live. I guess we’ve been moving towards this, but I hate that he’s asking during a moment that I am just about homeless.

“I wouldn’t have made the key if I wasn’t sure.”

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