Chapter 6 Closing The Door
CLOSING THE DOOR
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Emerson. It’s so good to see you again.”
“Matt, right?” her father asked and shook Matt’s hand. “Phoebe’s brother?”
“That’s right,” he said. Matt kept his hand on her father’s shoulder, replacing her mother’s, and assisting her father down the hall. “Why don’t we go into this conference room? We’ll have more space. I’m going to grab my laptop.”
They turned into the room before Matt’s office and Anya and her parents sat at the table, while Matt went back to his office.
“How are you doing, Dad?” she asked. He seemed clear-eyed and alert. That was a plus today. They needed it for what was being done.
“Not bad,” her father said. “Your mother told me why we are here. Guess I overslept this morning.”
“He didn’t want to get up,” her mother said. “I told him he could nap when we got home if he wanted.”
“I want to take your mother to lunch today,” her father said.
“Lunch sounds nice,” Matt said, returning to the room. “Going anywhere special?”
“What’s the name of that place you love so much?” her father asked her mother.
Her father never offered to take her mother to lunch. There was no special place, but Matt wouldn’t know that.
The tears springing into her mother’s eyes told a story that a stranger to their life wouldn’t comprehend.
“We’ll talk about it later, Elliot. Why don’t we focus on the important things right now?”
“That’s right,” Elliot said. “Your mother wants me to sign everything over to her. I told her she doesn’t know how to run the business, but maybe she’ll do a better job than I have. Shelly hasn’t been in for weeks.”
Her heart ached listening to him talk. “Remember why she’s not there, Dad? She stole a lot of money from you.”
“She did?” her father asked. “Oh yeah. She did. What a bitch.”
Nothing could stop the laugh from running free. Even Matt smirked over that. “I’m sorry for what happened. Anya has filled me in.”
“I’ve got all the medical documents you might need,” her mother said, pulling out a folder. “In case things get tricky.”
Her mother was nodding to her father.
Rather than Matt asking why, he reached for the folder and opened it up, scanned the documents, then set it down. “This works. Do we want to start with transferring the business into your name?”
“It’s in my name and his,” her mother said. “I think that might take too long to do. If I have legal authority and medical proxies in place, I can negotiate all of that, right? He’ll just need to sign?”
Which was why they were pushing for this now. Her father had good and bad days and if they could get him there to sign and explain it, it’d be less of a hassle.
“We’ll tackle those things. Anya said you have a will already. Did you bring a copy of it?”
“I couldn’t find it,” her mother said. “I’ve got one more place to look. This was all so sudden. Anya has been wonderful helping and she’s right. We need to do this now. She came over on Friday and pushed for this right away, so I’m playing catch-up.”
She didn’t need Matt to think she was greedy. “We’ve been talking about this for months, Mom.”
“Yes, we have. After the call with EJ it felt like we had to expedite the legal end. I guess it feels final,” her mother said.
This was hard on everyone, but it had to be done. The sooner, the better. They had to push through.
If it meant closing the door on memories of her father, then it did.
He wasn’t the man he’d been when she was growing up. She feared taking all these steps did make it feel more real to her. To know one day he wouldn’t remember their talks, the good times, maybe even who she was.
“When did you talk to EJ?” her father asked, his face turning from the nice guy that wanted to treat her mother to lunch to the man that fought nonstop with his son. “He won’t return my calls.”
Her mother had slipped bringing up EJ’s name. They were careful not to have anything agitate her father. It was a trigger in a way and the more worked up he was, the harder it was for him to focus.
“Mom meant the call with Ethan,” she lied. “Your manager.”
“Oh. Yeah, Ethan’s a good guy. I wonder if he wants to buy the business. Did you ask him?”
“You can ask him later today if you want?” she said.
The employees were told on Monday what was going on. She understood if anyone wanted to leave, and they felt they should be given an opportunity to look for a job before they lost one.
Ethan had been holding down the fort in the past several months, as her father wasn’t in daily.
When he was in, her father wasn’t always aware of what was going on and it was becoming more hassle than it was worth on everyone’s part.
“I’ll do that,” her father said. “Not that my son ever wanted the business, but it’s time to retire.”
“It is, Dad.” She smiled and patted his hand.
Her father frowned and moved his hand back. He didn’t always like to be touched.
Not before his diagnosis and not always now.
A concerning loving and touchy feely father she didn’t have. She’d wished for it.
Especially when she saw Tim Kelly with his daughter and sons.
She long since gave up wishing or hoping for things that weren’t in the cards.
Her father not showing up for sporting events when they were kids. Her first dance that he wasn’t there to see her all dressed up for.
The little things she did with the Kellys and her mother because her father was working. It didn’t mean he hadn’t treated her well, just that he wasn’t always around.
“Let’s get this over with so I can get some food. I’m starving,” her father said.
Anya looked at her watch. It was only ten twenty. Her mother would have fed her father breakfast and, since he overslept, he ate later too.
“We can get right to work,” Matt said.
She sat back while Matt went over everything she’d already talked to him about, saving her mother from having to explain it in front of her father. It was for the best.
“That was fairly painless,” her mother said. “Will it take long to get power of attorney? We’d like to get the business listed quickly. Elliot can sign and will, but you know.”
“I can draw it up this afternoon and if you have time to return tomorrow, once it’s signed and notarized, it’s effective.”
Her mother looked relieved. “I hadn’t realized it was that fast.”
“I’ve got the paperwork right here. Elliot, you’re willing to hand over power of attorney to your wife, correct?”
“Sure,” her father said. “She’s been bossing me around for years; this won’t be any different.”
Anya laughed. Her mother smiled. Her father and brother butted heads nonstop, but her parents had a good strong marriage.
Statements and touches of memories were what her mother needed now. She did too.
“There you go. We’ll get it all squared away then. I’ll need some more time for the wills, but medical proxy and power of attorney will be done immediately.”
“We appreciate it, Matt,” her mother said. “I’m so glad Anya thought to call you. It’s better to have someone you’re familiar with at a time like this.”
“I would have called Phoebe, but her office being two hours away isn’t conducive to my work schedule or my parents’ time.”
“I’m glad I can help,” he said, but he was looking at her.
“I loved your sister,” her mother said. “I always wished Anya had a relationship with her brother as you did with your siblings. Though I have to admit, she came home frustrated with yours and Ben’s antics.”
“More Matt than Ben,” she added.
“I’ll never forget Phoebe’s fifteenth birthday sleepover.”
“Mom,” she growled low in her throat. “We don’t need to bring that up.”
“Anya thought there was a bear in your house,” her father said.
She wanted to race from the room and hide in a closet over this being brought up again, but the fact her father remembered it was more touching than anything.
“I wasn’t the smartest girl at the party,” she said. She could make fun of herself like so many others did. It was better to play along than show you were hurt.
“Anya was so upset when she got home,” her mother said. “We told her repeatedly there weren’t any bears in Charlotte. We didn’t know what she was talking about until I called your mother.”
She wanted to snarl but held it back causing her nose to scrunch up instead. Her mother didn’t seem to get the hint to not skip down memory lane.
“I didn’t know that,” he said. “I had a bad habit of playing jokes on my siblings. Phoebe got the brunt of it.”
“And her friends,” Anya said.
She’d never forget that night.
Five girls getting to sleep in the pool house for the first time. She’d always wanted to do it and Phoebe’s parents had said no. That they had to stay in the house.
But Phoebe argued that since Matt and Ben stayed out with their friends at fifteen, they could that night too.
It would have been better if they hadn’t.
Right when the lights went out around midnight, they heard noises outside. Then a garbage can was knocked over.
She was terrified someone was going to come in and attack them.
One of their other friends said it was a bear. She believed that joke because it wasn’t only Matt who thought she was na?ve.
She was na?ve back then and people took advantage of it.
The door opened to the pool house, then something gross-smelling filled the air and they all screamed and ran around the room looking for lights.
By the time Phoebe’s father appeared, there was nothing there and he calmed them down and they went into the house where she felt safer. She kept asking if it was possible for bears to get into houses.
Like an idiot of course.
The next day she’d told her mother what happened. Her mother called Phoebe’s mother to clear up the confusion and she was later told that it was Matt playing a prank.
It’d scared the crap out of her that night. For weeks, even months later, she had to be the butt of jokes at school that she believed a bear was in Phoebe’s backyard.
Some even called her Yogi.
“Poor Anya. She had nightmares for a few weeks that animals were going to get her in her sleep,” her mother said.
“Mom,” she said. Her patience button had been popped. Matt's eyes bulged out, his mouth was agape and his shoulders stiffened.
Her mother laughed, not aware how appalled Matt appeared. “Don’t feel embarrassed. It was funny in a way. I think it had more to do with your brother always making you jump at home.”
She snorted. “Don’t remind me.” She turned to Matt. “You’re not the only boy in my life that used me as their form of entertainment.”
His face flushed too. “Don’t blame Matt,” her mother said. “Boys will be boys. Your brother was twice as bad.”
“And he never grew up and took responsibility,” her father said. “That’s why he moved away. He couldn’t be a man and do what was right.”
Things were going to take a turn for the worse fast. “I think we’ve finished here,” she said. “Have we, Matt?”
He cleared his throat. “We are with your parents,” he said. “If you can stay for a few minutes?”
It wasn’t her preference, but she wouldn’t argue in front of her parents. “Do you need help, Mom?”
Her father stood up. “Help with what?” her father asked. “I’m taking your mother to lunch.”
She smiled. “Good. Enjoy it. Mom, I’ll talk to you later.”
Her parents left the conference room and Matt shut the door. “Wow. I’m really sorry about that. I got grounded for weeks for that prank. I didn’t know you had nightmares about it.”
“Don’t think so highly of yourself. It had more to do with EJ. He was more than twice as bad as you. I can’t even put a number on it.”
She wasn’t lying there, but the last thing she wanted to do was rehash one of Matt’s many pranks that backfired on her when it wasn’t meant to.
“And I compounded it?”
“Something like that,” she said.
“I feel as if I’m never going to dig myself out of a hole I didn’t know I was in.”
She snorted. “Probably not.”