Page 26 of Sheep Calm and Merry On
Austin Taylor stumbled into the room, blurting apologies and rubbing abashed at his cheek. He wore a threadbare T-shirt under a leather jacket and over a pair of sinfully tight black jeans. To complete the cliché, he wore lace-up black biker boots. All of which would already make him hot as fuck, but the look was topped off with two droolworthy touches.
First was the hint of grease on his hands and smudged across his cheek. Apparently Austin Taylor was a mechanic of some sort by trade and in his haste had failed to properly clean up.
Second, and worse, was the hair. His jaw was covered in stubble, highlighting his jawline, and above that was a mess of long dark curls. Joe suspected, based on the apparent age and disrepair of Taylor’s clothes, that he wasn’t very vain or much into fashion. He probably kept his hair long out of laziness or cheapness. It was thick and glossy and fell around his face in a tousled mess of beautiful haphazard waves.
Joe wanted to touch it.
“Sorry,” Taylor said again as he sat down, barely glancing at Joe.
Joe frowned. Late and rude, even while apologizing. “It’s fine. It’s not like our time matters or anything,” he said cheerfully.
Taylor turned and eyed him. Joe smiled wider.
“Well,” Taylor said, “the next time we have an appointment and an elderly client calls me while stranded on the highway with a flat tire, I’ll be sure to let them know I can’t help because your time is so precious.”
Joe flushed, embarrassed that Taylor managed to look like the better person when he was half an hour late.
“Why don’t we get started?” Ms. Kelly smoothly cut in as she slid two folders across the table, one for each of them.
Joe flipped his open and found a stack of official paperwork—a copy of DeeDee’s will, a property deed.
“So, as you are aware, DeeDee Mitchell left her house to the two of you in equal share. So until you make further decisions, it’s a shared asset.”
Joe nodded. That wasn’t unexpected. He’d had months to get used to the idea of Meg’s relative leaving him half a house, even if her motives remained a mystery.
“The estate has been paying the property taxes for the past few months, so you’ll be billed for that,” she continued. “Last month the house was appraised and valued at two hundred and ten thousand dollars in its current condition. You can either sell the property and split the proceeds, or one of you can buy out the other.”
Joe glanced at the ripped knee of Taylor’s jeans and doubted the guy had a spare hundred thousand lying around. Mechanic work could pay well if you owned an established business, but someone in that position would’ve sent someone else to change the flat.
“Of course, before you make any decisions, you should visit the property yourself and investigate. Mrs. Mitchell left you the contents of the house as well as the structure and land, and those assets have not been evaluated.” She eyed them both with a shrewd look. “As a lawyer, I feel the need to point out that as strangers, you should take on the task of cleaning it out together.”
“Wait,” Taylor said, “she left us the contents?” He licked his lips and finger-combed his mess of waves out of his face. It looked even more disheveled and touchable. “Like, all of them?”
Ms. Kelly nodded.
“But… that house is full.” He sounded daunted by the prospect.
“Yes. All of it. In the past few years, Mrs. Mitchell had already gifted the few items of sentimental value to the relevant family members, a common act for people who want to ensure inheritance or see the enjoyment of the younger generation.”
Taylor blinked. “So. She left us her house worth a couple hundred thousand dollars and everything inside?” He looked down at the closed folder in his lap, then back up at Ms. Kelly. “Was she crazy?”
Joe bristled. Where did Taylor get off? Sure, DeeDee was eccentric, but she’d adored her family. And while Joe himself was surprised by her move, he also knew that she never would have done it if it put Meg’s future in any sort of peril. But Meg was well taken care of. DeeDee and her late husband were no fools, and they’d raised equally practical children. Meg’s dad and his wife hadn’t been hurting for funds when DeeDee was still around, but they were even better established now that they had her nest egg. Joe suspected that not leaving them the house that Meg hadn’t ever set foot in was an act of kindness. Cleaning out the house for sale would be an undertaking.
“Such gratitude,” Joe muttered.
Taylor flinched and then looked at him sideways. “Sorry, but I haven’t exactly lived the kind of life where someone just leaves me a house with no strings attached.” Then the corners of his mouth twitched up and his dark eyes sparkled. “Or one string, I guess, in the form of an unlikely house husband.”
Joe’s cheeks went furiously hot and words deserted him. His hand clenched reflexively around the pen.
Austin couldn’t know the sick feeling that gave him in his stomach as he thought of Paul. Joe thought it was a pretty reasonable reaction, really. Anyone who’d had a broken engagement a week before they were supposed to close on their first house together would’ve felt the same.
Ms. Kelly cleared her throat. “Keeping the joint asset is also a possibility, of course.”
Joe wished the floor would swallow him. Jesus. He scrubbed a hand over his hair. “Uh, I think we’ve taken up enough of your time for the day. Maybe we should just get these signed.”
Blessedly, Austin Taylor did not argue.
Filling out the rest of the paperwork didn’t take long. Ms. Kelly’s assistant took copies of their driver’s licenses, then of the ownership transfer papers. Then Ms. Kelly slid two identical brass keys across her desk. “Here you are, gentlemen. Congratulations.”
