Chapter 22
22
M argo's phone kept chiming. She had heard it for a while but couldn't wake up. She'd had too many sleepless nights, and it finally caught up with her last night. And for the first time in more than two weeks, she went to bed with her heart feeling like it was mending. She didn't have that heavy sense of dread when she lay down. What she had were visions of Jace Marriott in her head, smiling at her, holding her hand, kissing her. That was the best part.
Her phone chimed again, and she blinked several times, then rolled over to take her phone off the charging cradle. She looked at her phone and saw a text from a number she didn't know. Tapping the first one, she opened it up, and an instant fire began burning in her tummy.
"It's Sierra, I want to work at Price Realty. I don't know why you wouldn't want extra help. Logan wanted this for me. As a matter of fact, he told me just before he got sick that he was going to bring me into the real estate company. We were going to open a Miami office and work there together."
Margo huffed out a deep breath and laid back on a pillow. This woman! Did she wrong her in a different life or something?
Margo ran different options through her head, which was too early for anything before coffee. But, her non-coffee, sleepy brain came up with these options. She could respond, which she wanted to do, but what she wanted to say was probably not wise. Or she could just block her phone number. That was probably the best thing to do. She could always unblock her later if she needed to. Yes, that was probably the smartest thing. So that's what she did. She tapped Sierra's text, scrolled to the words, block this caller , and tapped. Then she rolled herself out of bed, used the bathroom, and stumbled down the hall to the kitchen. Carley wasn't awake yet, but the coffee had already brewed. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she ran scenarios through her head. Sitting in the living room, in the far corner of the sofa, she curled her feet under her. She dropped her phone on the sofa and saw a text message that she'd missed last night. Taking a deep breath before looking at it, she saw Jace's name.
"I had a nice time tonight, thank you."
Oh, she missed it. That made her feel sad.
She tapped his text and responded right away,
"I had a nice time too. I'm sorry I just saw this. I fell asleep quickly last night."
Jace responded with a smiley face and then he replied,
”I thought I'd grill you the finest steak you've ever had tonight. Are you a meat eater?"
She laughed, then she replied,
"Of course I eat meat. Steak sounds fantastic."
And then she added a happy face emoji at the end.
He responded with a happy face back, and she figured he was probably getting ready to go to work. So she scrolled through social media a little bit and then checked the news to see if there was anything pressing in the world today that she needed to be aware of. That heavy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, so she decided to just enjoy her coffee without any of the noise.
Carley woke and stumbled down the hall.
Margo smiled. "Good morning."
"Good morning," Carley said. "Do you need more coffee?"
"Yes, if you wouldn't mind refilling, I would appreciate that."
Carley took her cup and slogged to the kitchen.
None of them had been morning people, her and her three sisters. They got that from their mom. She hadn't been a morning person either. She used to tell them when they were little, "Please just let me have one cup of coffee before we have to start talking about anything and making decisions."
At the time, Margo thought it was incredibly rude. Now she totally understood it.
Carley came back out, handed her a cup of coffee, and then sat in the opposite corner of the sofa and tucked her feet up under her just like Margo did.
She watched her sister and smiled.
Carley sipped her coffee, and Margo decided to honor their mother and her sister and not say anything until Carley was ready. She stared out at her flowers, which she could see from this corner of the sofa. It's why she always sat there. The birds flew around; bees were buzzing. It was peaceful right now.
"How was your date last night?" Carley finally asked.
"It was good. Really good."
"That's nice. Where'd you go?"
"We went to the Crab Shack in Spring Harbor."
"Oh, I've heard about that place. I think Grace mentioned something about it."
Margo smiled. "It was nice. For Jace, it was half date, half business."
"What does that mean?" Margo chuckled and told Carley about the decor and Jace's plans for the Sandbar.
"Oh well, you're the perfect person to help out with that. You're very good at decorating."
" Thank you, Carley. What did you do last night?"
"I read part of a book and then fell asleep. When I woke up, I tried to read some more but fell asleep again, so I just decided to go to bed. I guess all of us have been light on sleep the last few weeks."
"Yeah, how are you feeling about your breakup with Don and everything?"
"I'm actually fine. I was so tired of the fighting. So tired of the bickering. And he got to the point where everything I did, he found fault with. I got really tired of that. Actually, I was stressed by it. If I tried to cook, he would point out faults. If I cleaned something, he would point out how I didn't do it the way he thought it should be done. After a while, it got to the point where I was afraid to do anything because I felt like I was going to be criticized. And then I got criticized for not doing anything."
Margo shook her head. "I'm sorry, Carley."
Carley shrugged. "It's okay. I mean it's not okay, but it's okay. I'm fine. I have felt so much better being here and out of that environment. I can't even explain to someone how just removing yourself from that is so stress-relieving and freeing. I thank you, Margo, for letting me stay here."
Margo reached forward and patted Carley's leg. "It's okay, honey, you're always welcome here. And I guess we needed each other, right?"
"Right. That's right. So now what's going on today?"
Margo took a breath. "Well I woke this morning to texts from Sierra telling me how she wanted to work at the real estate office and how Logan promised to open a Miami office and have her work there with him. So I blocked her."
Carley covered her mouth with her hand. Swallowed the coffee in her mouth and then looked at Margo. She laughed and then grinned. "Good for you. I'm glad you did that. That stupid bitch. Who does she think she is, anyway?"
"Yeah, I don't know. Jace told me that he thinks she's a gold digger. I don't know what Logan did to make her think that he had enough money to be a sugar daddy. I suppose he gave her the necklace. And obviously, they flew places. They went here and there, but it's not like we're multi-millionaires. We have money. I have money, actually." She froze, her brows bunched together. "You know what? I have money. I need to clear this with Grant Park, but it seems like Logan didn't give anything away to Sierra except ten percent10% of the real estate company. Actually, five percent5%, but he didn't give her any money. It's all mine. Even the trust. I need to talk to Grant. I don't think we fully went through everything with the will when I was there." She stared at her sister. "Carley, I have money!"
Carley grinned at her sister. "I'm glad you do. You deserve it, Margo. You're the one who's been working hard for it."
Her heartbeat quickened. "Yeah, well, as soon as Grant's office opens this morning, I'll give him a call." She looked down at her watch. "And I have a date tonight."
Carley sipped at her coffee. The smile on her face turned up a notch. She inclined her head and looked at her sister. "A date. Another one. That's three nights in a row you will have seen each other."
Margo shrugged. "Well, not really. I mean, we were at his place the other night, so that doesn't really count. We weren't on a date. Last night was a date. Tonight, he's making me steak at his place."
Carley's eyes rounded and her brows rose into her bangs. "Ooh at his place. Awesome!" She leaned forward and patted Margo's leg. " I'm so happy for you. Did you enjoy yourself with him?"
"I sure did. I did. It was nice. He held my hand. We talked. It was different than Logan. I like being near him. He's... I don't know what to say. I guess I feel safe with him. Like he's... he's got my back. He would never betray me. I don't believe he ever would. I don't understand how you can know that about someone so quickly, but I just feel it. I never felt that with Logan as I look back on it. Never."
Carley nodded. "I think that's a sign. You know they always say trust your gut." Carley smiled. "Trust your gut, Margo. If you have a favorable gut feeling about him, run with it. Good for you!”
Margo nodded. She sipped at her coffee. It was good for her. She finished her coffee and stood. "Okay, I better get ready for work. I have arrangements to make with the title company today for Jace's closing on Friday. They should be ready to start wiring money now, so I'm gonna get that going, and then see if there are messages about any showings I have to do. The usual. What are you gonna do today, Carley?" She stopped and stared at her sister. "Do you have... are you working from home now? What's going on with you?"
Carley's lips turned down into a frown. "You know, I'm thinking about calling and quitting my job. I've been on vacation these last few weeks. I have so much time built up, but I don't really like it there, and I want to be here. And I don't know, I thought I would look for work here. There's probably not a lot, but I thought I would try to look for work here."
Margo shrugged. "Well, I think I might have an availability for an agent at the real estate office if you think you want to try your hand at real estate. I think you mentioned it a few years ago. If you like it, eventually, you will have to take the classes and get your license, but I'm happy to help you along the way."
"Really? Margo, that's fantastic. I never...I mean, don't pity me. Don't offer me a pity job. But if you think you'd really like to work with me, I'll work very hard for you. I'll do the best job I can do, and I know I'll have the best teacher."
Margo chuckled. "I know you'll work hard. I'm not worried about your work ethic at all and with your experience in marketing at large corporations, I think you'll be invaluable."
"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Carley's excitement began to rub off on her.
"Well, this morning, we'll go to the office and muck out Logan's office. You can have that. He only had seven things in the pipeline, and one closes next week, so that's what I'll have you do. I'll have you call the buyer's agent on that closing and the title company. I'll walk you through that. What do you think?"
"That's fantastic. Thank you Margo. Yes, thank you. Yes!” Carley jumped up and hurried down the hall. Margo chuckled as she watched her older sister.
Of the four sisters, the order of their birth was Carley, Margo, Holly, and then Josseline. They were all two years apart, as if they'd all been perfectly timed. Margo was now forty three years old. Carley was forty five. She'd been married and divorced, and she'd been with Don for a long time. Long enough that they bought a house together. But thank goodness Carley didn't marry him. He was a turd. At least all the sisters thought so, though they didn't berate Carley for it. So now, she had a new chance at life, and Margo was excited to help her sister. Lord knows Carley had helped her so much over her life, but especially these last few weeks especially.
Margo showered and entered the kitchen to see Carley whipping up breakfast for them. "I'm making an omelet. How does that sound?"
Margo chuckled. "An omelet is perfect for me."
They ate breakfast together, drank another cup of coffee, and then went to the office together. The office was located on First Street, and she could pull into the driveway and park behind the building. It was just before nine. Her assistant, Addison, was already there.
"Good morning, Margo."
"Good morning. Addison, this is my sister Carley. Carley is going to be trying out the real estate business to see if it's something she's interested in. In the meantime, I'm going to have her in Logan's office. Can you please pull up for her the real estate deals that Logan had in the pipeline? I know there were seven of them, but get the paperwork and the file names for her so she can keep those files and the others. We'll clean out Logan's office."
Addison smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Carley." She reached her hand out, and they shook hands. "I'll get right on the files. Also, there are a couple of messages here. I took them off the voicemail. I don't quite understand them, but someone wants to work here. Sierra, something?"
Margo closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked at Addison for a moment, who was watching her. She huffed out a breath. "I may as well tell you this. You'll likely hear it, anyway. Sierra Stigler was Logan's mistress and they've been having an affair for seven years. Logan changed his will two years ago to give Sierra Stigler ten percent of this company. What I've managed to figure out, with the help of Grant Park, is that he is only allowed to give ten percent of his half of the company, which is five percent of the entire company. And even that is suspect. As a matter of fact, I need to call Grant and find out what he managed to root out after looking through our incorporation papers."
Addison frowned. "I'm sorry, Margo. I had no idea Logan was involved with anyone else."
Margo shook her head. "You couldn’t have known that anyway, and don't worry, I'm managing all of this...mess."
Addison nodded her head. Her voice was soft when she replied, "On that note, Grant Park left you a message to call him. It's also in these."
She handed over several pink slips of paper that she had pulled off the voicemail.
"Thank you. I'll get Carley situated in Logan's office and then, if you could pull those files, I'll work with her after I call Grant. In the meantime, Sierra Stigler is not working here. She has nothing to say about anything that goes on in this company, and if she comes in here, tell her to leave. If she won't leave, just call the police. We don't want her here, and we're not going to deal with her drama and pettiness. I'm just not gonna do it."
Addison nodded. "Okay, got it.”
Margo looked at Carley and nodded toward the set of doors. Logan and Margo had offices side by side. Their company was small. There were only two other rooms across the hall from their two offices, one was their file room. All their real estate dealings were filed by the last name of the seller and placed on shelves in alphabetical order. They kept them for seven years, and at the end of the seventh year, Addison would clean out those seven-year files and make sure they were scanned into their system. And then she destroyed the documents. She didn't have anything original here anyway other than the offers, and at that point, after they had been closed for seven years, there was no need to keep that either.
The second room was their conference room. It wasn't large, but it served as a clean place to meet with prospective buyers and sellers. It was comfortable and sensibly decorated with pictures of Blossom Springs and the sunsets.
She opened Logan's door, which she hadn't opened since he'd died. She was pleased to see that it was in great order. Addison called out, "I straightened up a week ago. I didn't know what to do, and I was feeling kind of sad, so any files that were closed for a while that he had stacked on the corner of the desk, I just filed them away. I hope that's okay. I can get you a list of them."
Margo shook her head and smiled at her loyal assistant. "It's not necessary. Thank you for taking the initiative, Addison."
Carley stepped in and looked around. "Wow, this is...this is amazing, Margo. Thank you so much. I'm so excited about starting working with you. And to have my own office, which is very nice, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and so frigging excited. I can't wait to tell Holly and Josseline."
Margo chuckled. "I'm glad to hear that. So why don't you get yourself situated? If you need to rearrange the drawers and put things where you want them, feel free to do so. In the meantime, I'll have Addison set you up with a username and password so you can log into our system, and then we will show you how to use it. While you're doing that, I'm going to go call Grant. I'm right next door if you need anything, and Addison knows everything you need to know, so you should feel free to ask her."
"Thank you, Margo." Carley hugged her, and Margo's heart felt so good to help her sister. Plus, she loved Carley, and it was wonderful having someone you love working with you.
She moved down the hall to Addison's desk. "Can you help her get set up and issue her a username and password for the software? Then, if you don't mind, can you walk her through the software?"
Addison smiled brightly. It had likely been rather quiet in the office recently, and she was most likely pleased to have something to do. "Sure, thank you so much. I'm happy to do that."
Margo smiled and nodded. "Thank you so much for everything, Addison."
She turned and strode into her office. Sitting in her desk chair, she took a deep breath before picking up her desk phone.
As Grant answered, she grinned. "Good morning."
"Good morning. How are you, Margo?"
"I'm managing. How are you?"
"I'm fine. I just wanted to give you the news. Logan did not have proper authority to give away any shares in your company. It was not done appropriately. We have your record book here, as you know, and we drafted your annual minutes. There's nothing in the minutes that states that anything was brought up for a vote and voted on. Which is the procedure. I will be calling Sierra Stigler's attorney today and letting him know that she doesn't have any shares in the company and is not entitled to any."
Margo took a deep breath. It felt like a weight had been lifted, even though she knew this was the case, from her perspective. To have Grant confirm, made her feel more comfortable. "I can't even tell you how happy I am to hear that. Not even for the money, but just to know that Logan's last little knife in my back didn't amount to anything. I also got a text from Sierra this morning saying she wanted to work here, and Logan had promised her a Miami location of Price Realty."
Grant huffed out a breath. "Well, good luck to her. I'll tell you that she can't incorporate as Price Realty Inc. in Miami if she wants to because you already have that incorporation in the state of Florida. She'll have to come up with another name if she wants to start her own company."
Margo smiled. She leaned back in her chair and let her back rest. "I wanted to talk to you about one other thing. Money. We didn't get to that in your office the other day when you talked about Logan's will. We were both so stunned by what he had done that we didn't talk about money. So, any money that came through the real estate company is mine, as you just confirmed. We had a trust set up with money in it, and I believe he was not able to transfer anything out of the trust. I'm the trustee and I didn't transfer anything out. Am I clear on that? Any money we have in the trust is all mine now?"
Grant responded quickly, "You're right on that. All the money is yours. Do you know how much there is in there?"
Margo shook the mouse on her computer and called up their financial planning website. "Let me look here. Hang on." She logged in and waited a moment while it loaded. She read the columns and balances for the various stocks their portfolio was invested in. She scrolled down to the bottom and saw the final total. "It looks like we have close to ten million dollars in this account."
Her heart hammered in her chest. She had no idea it had grown to that amount.
Grant laughed. It was unexpected, but it made her so happy. "Good for you, Margo. And that is all yours."
She chuckled right along with him. Her heart felt happy once again, and it had nothing to do with the money. It had to do with the fact she was winning.