Page 51 of Danny Hall Gets a Lawyer
It occurred to me that if we did get a payout from Harlan, maybe I could talk to Grandma about using some of it to start college next fall. She knew about my plan, and I was pretty sure she’d be on board. Depended on whatever broke and needed replacing around the house next, I supposed, and how much the payout from Harlan might be. Also, Grandma had bills of her own to pay—it seemed like Sunny Fields was always finding some reason to put up costs—and it was her tree and her payout, not actually mine. But still, a loan might not be out of the question.
Either way, I was determined to get certified eventually. Slow progress was still progress, right?
I had some time before Miller arrived, so I showered and shaved, then spent far too much time worrying over which shirt to wear. Which was crazy, I knew. Miller didn’t give a shit about what I was wearing, and it wasn’t like we were going out anywhere. Hell, if tonight went the way I hoped, I’d be naked by the end of it anyway.
In the end I pulled on a clean tee, ran my hands through my hair, and called it good. Then I tidied the living room while I ran through the speech I’d prepared in my head for around the fiftieth time since Miller had texted. Hopefully I wouldn’t get much past the part that went,I really like you, before he’d connect the dots—Miller was super smart—but I also remembered how confused he’d been when I gave him my number. Maybe he was only lawyer smart, not people smart, so I was prepared to spell it out for him if I needed to.
I just hoped I didn't need to.
Headlights flashed, and I felt the sudden, stupid urge to hurry to the bathroom and check my hair wasn’t out of place. Like, it was always out of place, however often I dragged a comb through it. It wasn’t like Miller turning up would suddenly give me the power to be the opposite of unkempt.
Kempt?
Anyhow, I looked good. Well, I looked fine, which was good enough.
Jesus. I hated how Miller had made me insecure about how I looked, where I lived, what I did for work. I mostly hated it because he hadn’t done anything to cause it—it was all my own stupid brain, not him. It was like if I judged myself first, it would sting less when he did it or something.
Dumbass.
There was a knock at the door and when I opened it, Miller stood there carrying two big bags of takeout that smelled fucking amazing. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” I looked at the bags again. “How many people were you planning on feeding?”
“I wasn’t sure if the guys would be here or not,” he said, like it was no big deal to bring enough for them as well.
Shit like that was why I was falling for him.
We went through to the kitchen, and I dug out some plates.
“Any trouble from next door?” Miller asked me as he opened the containers, and the aroma of spices filled the air and made my stomach growl with anticipation.
“Not for a bit,” I said. “Hey, how much do you think the payout might be?”
He got that little divot between his eyebrows when he tugged them together. “Well, that’s hard to say. It relies on a lot of different things.”
“I’m thinking about community college is all,” I said. “And I know it’s Grandma’s money, not mine, but she’d probably giveme a loan, you know? I was just wondering if there might be enough for that.”
Miller eased the lid off a container of jasmine rice. “How much is community college?”
I winced. “About two and half grand, the course I want.”
He blinked at me. “Two and half grand?”
“Yeah.” My stomach sank, and I shrugged. “I mean, I’ll save it eventually. Just might be at Goose Run Gas a little longer, I guess.”
His mouth twitched. “Danny, it’s gonna be more than two and a half grand.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yeah.” He let out a little laugh. “A lot more. Like I said, I can’t give a figure, and I won’t, because that’s bad practice, but you’re easily looking at over ten. Maybe alotover ten. Very probably a lot over ten, depending on the valuation from an arborist.”
Ten. Thousand. I stood there, stunned into silence.Tenthousand.
I had visions of myself diving into a pool of coins, like Scrooge McDuck, while Grandma floated around in an inflatable flamingo at the other end of the pool. I didn’t know why an inflatable flamingo. She had a cocktail as well, and big sunglasses.
Forget cocktails.Community college was suddenly looking a lot more likely.
“Danny? Are you okay?”
