Page 13 of Out to Get Her
“Next of kin,” she replied.
He nodded and reached into the cubbies beside him. He pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to her. “Here’s the request application. Do you know how many copies you’ll need? They’re nine dollars each, and we usually recommend getting extra. People always forget some place and end up needing more copies than they think.”
How many places had the attorney told her she’d need them for when she called earlier that morning? She was the sole beneficiary, so he’d promised things should be fairly simple. But she still needed to file a whole bunch of paperwork at a whole bunch of places. The bank, life insurance, V.A., social security, taxes… and something else maybe that she couldn’t remember.
“Five should be good. I’ll just get more later if I need them.”
“You might want to order extra now. You don’t want to have to go through all of this again.”
“All of what?” She processed the first part of his explanation, then said, “Order? What do you mean order extra? Can’t you print some back there while I wait?”
He chuckled, his eyes filled with amusement rather than the judgment she was used to around here. “The request takes ten to twelve days. Someone has to go over your request, make sure you’re actually entitled to copies, then the copies have to be certified before we can release them to you.”
“Certified,” she repeated. “Doesn’t that just mean someone presses one of those seal thingies on a corner?”
He smiled, laughter still playing at the edge of his mouth. She didn’t like being laughed at, but it seemed more like he found this whole process as ridiculous as she did and was happy to have someone in on the joke who wasn’t berating him or demanding to speak to a manager. “Pretty much.”
Ten to twelve days would put a major wrench in her plans to get out of here fast. But she could work on getting the house ready to sell while she waited to close all of Grandpa’s accounts. “Can you mail them to me? In New Orleans?”
“Just write the address you want them sent to on the form. It’s an extra fifty cents if you want to mail them rather than pick them up, although you’ll get them faster if you pick up the copies when they’re ready.”
“Well, hopefully I won’t be anywhere near here in ten days.”
He smiled and nodded. “Understood.”
* * *
Erin unlocked the front door to the short, piercing screech of “McFly!”
“Hey, Marty. Missed me?”
“McFlyyyyyyyyyy.”
She’d take that as a yes. Damn bird. The last thing she needed was a headache from his screeching.
She tossed her keys and phone on an end table and crossed the living room to Marty’s cage. He danced and paced and squawked while she slid up the little door for the birdseed.
Jeez, chill dude.
She didn’t want to deal with this thing—exactly why she didn’t want a pet of her own—but the sooner she took care of Marty, the sooner she could get off her feet and plan her next steps to get out of this town.
Erin made sure the seed door was shut before heading to the kitchen. Even more than a headache, the absolute last thing she needed was a rogue parrot flying around the house, shitting everywhere and refusing to go back in his cage. She’d probably get the dang bird killed. And while she didn’t exactly want him around, she also couldn’t handle the guilt of Grandpa’s dead parrot on her hands.
Erin shook that thought away and dumped the seed shells in the kitchen trash can.
Shit.
She’d forgotten to ask Zach where Grandpa kept the supplies for Marty. She crossed her fingers and headed to the linen closet in the hall.
Bingo.
She should have known they’d be in the same place. Grandpa always put so much thought into how he organized things that once something was placed, that’s where it stayed, because he’d selected the perfect location to begin with.
For some reason, the linen closet was the perfect location for bird seed and papers and everything else Marty-related. It made sense for a man with only two beds and only one back-up pair of sheets for each. He only needed one shelf for those and space for two extra pillows. The rest of the tiny closet was all Marty’s domain.
Erin refilled the cup using a tiny scoop she found with the seed. The gigantic plastic container was filled with way more food than she would need until she found a new home for the guy. She hoped. Someone in this town had to want Marty, right? For sentimental reasons, if nothing else.
She returned the seed cup to Marty’s cage then took the poop paper from the tray and replaced it with a fresh one. Finally, she changed out the water and checked that all exit points were secured.
