Page 63 of Off the Rim
Ashton allows me to take his hand but won't meet my eyes. "Yeah, well… I think my family purposefully targeted your dad to put him out of business and potentially run him out of town." He says the words quickly, like he needs to force them all out at once. He's probably worried about my reaction.
"I know."
He snaps his gaze up to mine, eyes wide and incredulous. "You do? How?"
"I went to the library today. I found a few newspaper articles that mentioned my dad's case against your family. You were right, there wasn't much that made it to the local media. While I was there, I cross checked my dad's name with all the names I could associate with your dad or the company. I found multiple complaints for random small ordinances to zoning concerns, abunch of small, petty stuff that seemed trivial. It didn't make sense why anyone would make complaints like that. Until I saw that every last one of the plaintiffs was represented by the same law firm."
"Richards and Langley?"
"Yep, that's the one. My guess is they were trying to prevent him from opening, or staying open, without causing a public scene. Because if the company really wanted to shut my dad down, they could have done it much sooner."
"So why did they wait so long?"
"That's what I haven't figured out yet. Maybe I'll never know. I'm not sure I know what I'd do with the information anyway."
Pulling his hand, I lead Ashton to sit on the doorstep. I don't try to push him to talk, but I keep my body pressed against his, so he knows I'm not pulling away. After all, I'm pretty sure I know enough, and I haven't run screaming yet. Maybe I should, but I haven't.
"So, what else is bothering you?" I ask, nudging him gently. "It feels like there's more."
Ashton blows out a heavy breath. "When we talked yesterday, I told you Mimi woke up." I nod. We texted after the game. He said he'd missed the end of it because she'd woken up but was really disoriented. "The doctor said the damaged brain cells from the stroke can lead to dementia. She probably won't regain the cognitive function she lost."
"I'm sorry to hear that." As much as I want to hate this woman I've never met, I wouldn't wish death or suffering on her. Not physically, anyway. I'd like her to feel bad about what she did,admit to what she did, maybe. Nothing can change the past, though, so there's no use thinking about that. Mostly, I don't want Ashton to be sad.
"When she first woke up, I was the only one in the room," he says, brow creased with stress. "She thought I was my dad. Called me Junior."
I chuckle. "That could be weird."
"It was really weird. Especially since she kept talking to me about a boy."
My eyebrow raises. "A boy? Like…a boy? Or he had a friend she didn't like?"
"The way she was talking, it sounded like she'd caught them together."
Oh shit. Now this is getting juicy. "Okay, interest officially piqued?—”
"I think she was talking about your dad."
Uh, what?
"I have no way of knowing for sure, of course. She was really out of it. But, she said, 'I don't want him leaching off you like that woman is your father.'"
"That could mean anybody."
"Yeah, but that's not all."
He turns to me with wide, fearful eyes. "What if… What if Mimi had something to do with our grandparents’ deaths?"
CHAPTER 30
ASHTON
"I'm sorry,what?"
"I have basically nothing to back this up," I say, holding my hands up in surrender. "I wasn't even going to say anything, but—” I look at the basketball on the ground in front of us. "I don't know, I needed to get it out."
"What would make you think that?"
"She kept saying she was going to fix things. So I asked her what things, or what she was going to do, but she kept patting my hand or shaking the invisible drink she was holding."
