Chapter Sixteen #2
“I was surprised when you called me last night. I didn’t expect you to change your mind after our first conversation.
” He sat on the large sofa, signaling for Piper to sit across from him.
He pulled out a stack of papers and set them on the coffee table.
Piper felt as though he shouldn’t put anything on Agnes’s perfectly polished table.
She was almost afraid to touch anything herself.
She took a deep breath and reminded herself that Agnes was gone.
That’s why she was here—to decide what to do with her grandmother’s things.
She knew that she was using this responsibility to get out of dealing with her feelings for Tag, but she didn’t care.
She welcomed the distraction. Not having to think about the way that she threw away the only man that she ever loved was a blessing in disguise.
The plane ride to New York gave her some time and perspective to realize that not only was she in love with Tag, but that she acted like a fool.
How could she blame him for living his life and doing his job?
Her irrational fears won, and she lost—everything.
She would spend a few months settling Agnes’ estate and then decide what to do from there.
Before she left Harvest Ridge, she closed the shop indefinitely.
She didn’t want to push her problems on Lorna.
She left notes for both Lorna and Sunny, letting them know that she needed some time to figure things out.
She told Sunny where she could be reached in case of an emergency.
She also begged her best friend not to tell Tag where she went.
She knew that her aunt would tell him, for the sake of true love.
Lorna was a sucker for romance and happily ever after.
But Sunny would keep her secret under the best friend’s oath that they swore to each other when they were both nine.
Besides, she wasn’t sure that Tag would try to find her.
He let her walk away so easily. She imagined that he would take a few days to sulk and then move on.
She wished she could do the same, but she was afraid that she would never find another man like Tag.
He came into her world and knocked it sideways.
She fell for him so easily, so completely.
She knew that she was in love with him, but she was too much of a chicken to tell him how she felt.
Walking away from him was the hardest thing that she had ever done.
She knew that she was putting up her walls and not letting him in.
Not even giving him a chance. She needed to protect herself, her heart.
The pain she felt after losing her parents almost killed her.
Losing Tag would have been her end. She couldn’t imagine a world without him in it.
If he were alive, she could continue. But she couldn’t be with him, knowing that he could be taken from her just as her parents were.
She knew it was irrational, but it was the way she felt.
Years in therapy taught her that running away from her feelings wasn’t the answer, but denying them was just as bad.
At least she was embracing her feelings about Tag, but she was still running.
Eventually, she would run out of valid excuses and have to return to Harvest Ridge.
Until that day, she would hide from everything and everyone that she loved. It was safer that way.
It seemed to take hours to go through all the paperwork for Agnes’s estate. “You were her sole beneficiary, Miss Flynn.” Her grandmother’s lawyer almost seemed pleased with himself, sharing that bit of information with her. Piper waved off the thought.
“I don’t care about any of it, Mr. Ketchum.” She looked at the older gentleman sitting across from her and wondered how well he knew Agnes. “How well did you know my grandmother, Mr. Ketchum?” The question was out of her mouth before she could think better of asking it.
“Please, call me John. Your grandmother and I had a working relationship. I didn’t know her outside of those parameters. Why do you ask?” He seemed to study her, waiting for her answer.
“Well—” Piper wasn’t quite sure why she asked.
She had about a million questions about her grandmother, but didn’t know if any were appropriate to ask her lawyer.
“I guess I’m just wondering why she chose to leave it all to me?
I didn’t have a relationship with her.” Piper thought back to the number of interactions that she could remember with Agnes.
Her father tried to see his mother each time they made a trip to the city.
Piper could only remember seeing Agnes on two occasions.
The first was when she was just five and her parents brought her to the city for a writer’s convention that her dad attended.
The second was the trip to New York when she lost her parents.
She always wondered what kind of person could leave a grieving twelve-year-old girl by herself in a police station.
It made her stomachache just remembering her grandmother’s face as she turned to walk away from her.
So stoic and harsh. She didn’t even hug her goodbye.
Over the years, Piper gave up on ever hearing from Agnes again.
She expected a Christmas or birthday card, but they stopped coming after her parents’ deaths.
Until Mr. Ketchum called her last week, she hadn’t heard a peep from her grandmother since that day.
And now, to find out that Agnes left her everything—she just couldn’t wrap her head around it.
“I have something here that might help explain things, Miss Flynn. Your grandmother left a sealed letter for you. I am only to give it to you after you have signed for the estate.” Piper looked at the envelope that Mr. Ketchum had laid before her.
She wanted to go against her grandmother’s wishes and peek inside.
She wanted some insight as to what Agnes wanted from her after all this time.
She also knew that the letter might not give her any answers.
“I also know that your grandmother was a hard woman. She was even harder to work for. After she and I met to go over these papers, she handed me this envelope with her instructions. She told me that her one regret in life was you, and then she sent me on my way. That was over two years ago, Miss Flynn. I’m not telling you what to do; I just know that sometimes in life, second chances are needed.
You need to decide if you want to grant her another go around.
” He pulled his pen from his suit coat pocket and pushed it towards Piper with the papers.
She studied them for a few minutes, weighing the pros and cons of the situation.
Did she fly all this way to turn down her grandmother’s estate?
She didn’t want anything from the woman; she just wanted some clarity.
Maybe her grandmother’s letter would give her that.
She decided to take a leap of faith. After all, she had nothing waiting for her back in Harvest Ridge.
She had nowhere else to go but home, back to a failed relationship and heartache.
She picked up the pen and signed the papers, taking ownership of her grandmother’s estate.
Mr. Ketchum gathered them up and stacked them neatly back into his briefcase.
“You are a very rich woman now, Miss Flynn. If you need anything else from me, please be in touch.” He handed her his business card along with her grandmother’s letter.
“All funds will be wired into your accounts by tomorrow, the start of business. I will set up a meeting for you with the estate auctioneer. He will help you go through Agnes’s things and decide what you would like to keep and what you would rather part with.
” He stood and offered Piper his hand. She suddenly felt panicked at the thought of being alone in Agnes’s home.
“Can you tell me of a decent place to stay? Nothing too pricey.” Piper shook his hand, not letting go for fear that he would leave.
Mr. Ketchum laughed, pulling his hand free to find his cell phone.
He called his assistant and, within minutes, had a hotel suite reserved in Piper’s name.
He also offered his driver until she could find her own.
She gathered her things, followed Mr. Ketchum out, and locked up behind herself.
She smiled at the doorman who helped her with her bags into the car.
She would never get used to people waiting on her, doing things for her.
She was a self-reliant woman, always was.
Mr. Ketchum seemed to notice her discomfort.
“Get used to it. This is your new normal.” He told his driver about the arrangements that he had made for Piper, and they rode to the hotel in silence.
Piper couldn’t believe how much her life had changed in just twenty-four hours.
She went from being irrationally terrified that the only man she ever loved was dead to staying in a suite at the St. Regis.
She was staying in one of the most luxurious, expensive hotels in New York City, yet she was consumed with thoughts of Tag.
She wondered if he had asked where she was.
She wondered if he even noticed that she had left town yet.