23. Addie
Chapter twenty-three
Addie
To say there’s a weight lifted off my shoulders is an understatement. In fact, I now feel lighter than I have in, well, eight or so years.
He didn’t say the words, “I know I’m Luna’s father.” but he didn’t need to. The look in his eyes expressed more than words ever could.
What about this one? I’m on the floor looking through old pictures of Luna when she was a baby, and I’m sending him my favorites.
Oh, my gosh. Am I crazy, or does she kind of look like me?
“Ah.” I breathe my millionth sigh of relief. It’s truly amazing how wonderful he’s been throughout all of this.
I reply: Absolutely. If the green eyes weren’t enough, she also has the same mischievous little grin on her face that he gets whenever he’s up to no good.
All he says after that is: We done good, Adds.
It’s one of the first times that I’ve been freely open and able to feel like I had a partner in making and raising Luna.
And I like it. I like it a lot.
However, shortly after this, I get a call from Steven.
“Hello?” It’s been a minute since I’ve heard from him.
“Addie, hey. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve gone over the papers your mother’s attorney filed, and I’ve handed them over to Creighton & Waldheim.”
I’m still looking at the images that are sprawled all over the floor before me.
“Okay.” The name sounds familiar, and I vaguely recall a jingle that I used to hear playing on TV—something about “being short on a dime and calling Creighton & Waldheim.”
“Clyde Waldheim is a great friend of mine from law school, and he’s the best of the best when it comes to this kind of stuff. Of course, I’ll handle the contesting of the will and all that jazz. But as far as the other stuff . . .”
“Other stuff?”
He pauses briefly, but then continues. “Yes, the suit over the rights to Flores Holdings.”
Fuck. I forgot all about that. Again, the last few weeks have been pretty eventful, so some things are bound to fall through the cracks.
“Anyway, as soon as you sign representation papers for Clyde, he can proceed with filing a counterclaim against your mother.”
Ugh. My body deflates. “And this is really the only option we have?”
“I’m afraid so. Unless you want to give up the fight entirely.”
“No!” I’d never just throw my hands into the air and let my mother win when it came to my abuelo’s wishes and legacy.
“That’s what I thought. So, can you meet with me in Clyde’s office around lunchtime? Let’s say, one?”
I check my watch and see that it’s already eleven-thirty.
I’ve been so preoccupied with going down memory lane that I have completely lost track of time.
“Addie?”
“Right, sorry. Yes, one will work.”
“Do you know where their offices are? The building is right on the outskirts of Little Tokyo.”
“Uh-huh. I think so.”
“Great. See you then.”
“Yep. See you.”
I was completely bluffing and have no idea where the actual office building is. But that’s what handy-dandy Google is for.
As soon as we’re off the phone, I look up the directions and see that it’s only about half an hour away from me. However, the drive will be during the midday rush, so I decide to afford myself extra time for that.
***
I arrive a little early, but as my abuelo always said, that is what it means to be perfectly on time.
I’m waiting outside on a concrete boulder that aligns a beautiful waterfall when Steven strolls up in an oversized suit, with crazy hair, and a disheveled briefcase.
“Oh! Hello, Addie!” he exclaims once he sees me.
“Hey, Steven.”
Then, his bag bursts open, and papers go flying around.
“Here, let me help you!” I spring to my feet and start chasing documents around. It doesn’t help that it’s particularly windy today.
“Whew!” He calms the few wisps of hair he has left once we manage to collect most of them. “Sorry about that.”
“No worries.”
I, then, watch as he buckles the tarnished buckles back together.
“All good?” I ask with an eyebrow raised.
“Yep.” He sniffles and then stands up straight. “Let’s go on in.”
For both of our sakes, I hope to God that nobody—and especially not the esteemed Clyde Waldheim—saw our antics before.
“Attorney Steven Sawyer and Addie Flores, here to meet with Attorney Waldheim,” he announces to the receptionist.
She clicks away on her keyboard before smiling up at us and saying, “Wonderful. He’ll be right out. Please, feel free to take a seat.”
Their office is incredible. And it’s clear the entire designer, or whoever they relied on to decorate it, was heavily influenced by their proximity to the hub of Japanese culture.
Steven also takes notice, and he seems particularly interested in a piece depicting the back of a woman who is also holding a samurai sword.
“Beautiful, no?”
“Very.”
I begin to wonder about his romantic life, as he doesn’t wear a ring and has never once mentioned having a partner.
But before I can go down that rabbit hole too far, Clyde presents himself in the lobby. He’s incredibly tall, and his presence alone commands a lot of attention.
Right away, Steven hops up and rushes to shake his hand.
“How are you, Steve?”
“I’m well, Clyde. Thanks for asking.” Then, he references back to me, and I take that as my cue to walk over. “This is Addie Flores. The woman I’ve been telling you about.”
Clyde’s jolly face falls a little, and his piercing blue eyes meet mine.
“Very nice to meet you, Ariana.”
At first, I opened my mouth to correct him, but after I remembered that he called Steven “Steve,” I figured he might be one of those people who just doesn’t do names.
“Um, yes. You too, Attorney Waldheim.”
He chuckles a little. “Please, call me Clyde.”
I chuckle awkwardly. “Right. Clyde.”
“Let’s go into my office, shall we?”
“Yes,” Steven answers, and then gestures for me to follow before him.
When we walk into his ginormous office, and I’m almost too stunned to speak. There is a dark, wooden desk with a large, cushiony chair behind it, and then floor-to-ceiling bookshelves all around.
It’s like freaking ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in here!
“Please, have a seat.”
Steven pulls out a chair for me, and I sit on it.
“So, as I’m sure Steven has told you, I’ve had the opportunity to go over some of these filings . . .”
He’s rifling through a manila folder marked “Flores v. Flores.”
I may not be the biggest fan of my mother, but I also think it’s a damn shame that things have come to this.
“Now, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but on top of the rights to Flores Holdings, your mother’s attorney has also asked for remedies relating to her wrongful termination.”
“What?” My eyes widen, and I look over at Steven. “How is that possible? She was never ‘employed’ in the first place. Or at least I didn’t think so.”
This is another area in which I secretly feel inadequate to run an entire company, for my brain processes information mainly in technical dimensions, and not in business talk like this or legalese.
“We can talk all about that later. But the most important thing is for you to sign this.” He slides over a “client-attorney agreement.”
“And this will do what, exactly?”
“Represent to me and the court that I am your legal attorney.”
I look over and Steven and nonverbally communicate with my eyes, “You’re sure he’s the best?”
As if he could hear me, he grabs my hand and nods.
“And it will also bind me to the rules and ethics that go into being your attorney. This means that I have to keep in communication with you at all times and zealously represent you in this action.”
“Oh, okay.” All of that makes sense.
“But please feel free to answer any questions you might have before that. I’m an open book.”
I don’t want to seem like an idiot and just sign it, so I try my best to come up with some half-brained inquiries.
After that, I affix my name.
Clyde does the same and then says that we’re now in business. “Now, don’t you worry about a thing. We’ll get this thing nipped in the bud.”
His confidence is slowly rubbing off on me, and I’m feeling much better about everything as I walk out into the scorching heat.
It took some time in his office, so I get my phone, which I’d silenced, out of my purse.
“Oh.” There’s a missed call from Hayden. Seeing his name on my screen would’ve filled me with dread just a few days before. But now, it makes me excited and even causes goosebumps to spread across my skin.
With a smile on my face, I call him back.
After a few rings, he answers.
“Hey!” I’m expecting him to make another sweet comment about the plethora of photos I sent him.
“Hi,” he replies in a stern tone.
Immediately, the energy all around me is brought down.
“Hi,” I repeat. “Is everything okay?”
“Actually, no. No, it’s not okay. Your mother is a tyrant. A goddammed tyrant, Addie.”
Oh, no.
I’m not sure if I want to know the answer, but still, I ask, “What’d she do?”
“Well, according to this lovely notice I just received, I’m being duly investigated by the IRS and the SEC.”
I gulp, and my stomach feels like it fell down to my knees.
“It doesn’t say your mom is involved. But I just know that she is. She has to be. I knew it. I just fucking knew she’d be the end of this entire project.”
After taking a few deep breaths myself, I try my best to calm him down.
“I’m really sorry, Hayden. I am. But please don’t let her rattle you. This is all a tactic. Plus, if you have nothing to hide, then there’s nothing to worry about, right?”
He scoffs. “Sure. But who knows what she has up her sleeve? She’s capable of almost anything. You of all people should know that, Addie.”
Yes, that is unfortunately true.
A loud ding goes off on his side of the line.
“Ugh! I’ve gotta go. I’m meeting up with Randall. Care to join?”
“I—” As much as I’d like to, I can’t. “I have to pick up Luna from school.”
“Can’t you just have Sam do it?”
While I’m impressed he remembered her name, I explain, “She’s already back in Phoenix.”
He groans before shouting, “You know what? Fine. Fine! I’ll just do all of this myself!”
Without another word, he hangs up, and I’m left speechless and with my mind reeling.