Page 24 of Gulfside Girls
“Yes. If you want me to continue to handle it, I can make some calls to an attorney in Jacksonville. That’s the closest referral I have.”
Ali knew then, out of the blue, exactly what she was going to do. This was her next project. She was going to close out her father’s—or her mother’s—estate. As the oldest sister, she saw it as her duty.
“No, we’ll handle it, Louie. Thank you for verifying all this.”
Ali stood up. Faye followed suit. Old Louie Michalak had to use the desk to assist in the effort of standing up.
“Let me know if you need me to do anything else. Tell Tami Lou out front, and she’s got my schedule if you have any more questions. Otherwise, the check for the house, well, divide by three, and you’re all set.”
“Thanks.”
“And again, sorry for your loss. Bruce was good people, one of my first clients right after your mom passed.”
All this reminded Ali that she probably needed someone in the firm to deal with her separation from Ted. It had receded to the back burner as this little kettle boiled.
“Thanks, Louie.”
Tami Lou was on the phone as they walked through the reception area, but she waved goodbye to them. Ali would have to give her a call.
The sisters made their way out to the parking lot. Faye looped her arm through Ali’s. It was freezing today and walking across the law office parking lot felt like crossing a frozen tundra. The wind was kicking up, and the fine powdery snow over the icy parking lot made each step treacherous. They helped each other toward Ali’s Jeep.
“Penguin it,” Ali said. And they both did their best imitation of penguins as they got to the car without slipping. Barely.
Ali got in and started the engine.
“You’d think the lawyers would salt better out here, jeez,” Faye groaned.
“Yeah.” The cold had permeated into Ali’s bones in the brief trek from office to Jeep. She punched the heat to maximum as the Jeep idled.
“Well, that was, uh, interesting,” Faye said.
“Yeah, it was.” Ali was making mental plans on how to get the information they needed about the Florida property.
“Can I run something by you, Ali?”
“Of course.” Ali put her fingers up to her face and huffed her warm breath into them to try to break the brittle chill.
“I don’t want to sell Mom’s stuff, not yet anyway.”
Ali knew what she meant; it was a connection. Something their long-dead mother owned, touched, and loved. And they’d only just found it. “I don’t want to either.” Ali was relieved that Faye felt the same. This wasn’t about the money at all.
“I know Blair probably needs the cash,” Faye said. “I could probably use it too, but with the house sale, I have a little cushion, and I just?—”
Ali stopped her and put a hand on Faye’s. “I get it. We have a little window into Mom, and we don’t want to close it.”
“Right.”
“Okay, but you heard Louie, we all need to decide. And if say, Blair says, no, let’s get liquid, we can figure something out. We for sure can hang on to the jewelry and dresses for a little while. I have no idea about the property. But yeah, I want to hang on to, to?—"
“To Mom,” Faye said.
“Yes.”
“Okay. What about the swamp land in Florida situation?”
“I don’t know. That’s a tougher nut. Seems very, uh, tangled up. But I’m thinking something about that, too. Let me think a little more. We can always have Louie call his guy in Jacksonville if we can’t handle this ourselves.”
“Yeah, okay. Well, I need to get to work. Can you drive me home?”
