Chapter 28 Come In Time
COME IN TIME
“Hey there,” Anya said when she opened the door to her parents’ house on Sunday afternoon.
Matt hadn’t seen her since Wednesday and didn’t know he could miss someone this much.
There had never been another woman he’d dated that he’d felt this strongly about when he couldn’t see her for a few days.
He leaned down to give her a kiss. She was standing there waiting for it.
Part of him was nervous since she’d made the comment about him being needy with the kisses on Wednesday.
He worried she thought he was putting on a show, but she’d texted him later to apologize if it came off wrong.
That night they’d talked and he admitted he was happy she’d taken that step in communication.
He wanted to but was still tripping over his feet to not upset her.
For a confident guy, he was failing at that trait lately.
It wasn’t until he realized he was in love.
The fear of losing her again was more than he wanted to put in his brain, making his mouth run on nitro rather than an electric battery.
He had to slow the hell down.
“Hi,” he said. “How are you doing?”
“Good. Come in. My father is in a good spot today. He’s napped this afternoon and knows you’re coming. He might get confused it’s about work that you’re here.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “I’ll play it anyway it works for you.”
She threaded their fingers together. “Did my text bother you? We haven’t talked much more and I haven’t seen you since. I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “You’ve been busy. Take advantage of it.”
She’d had house showings every night this week and yesterday. He had a big case coming up and was preparing for that.
He couldn’t put his work off because he had a personal life.
He’d never done that in the past and wouldn’t now.
“I have been. I’ve been negotiating with two clients on houses they saw. It’s not looking good. Sometimes that happens.”
“I’m sure it happens more than sometimes,” he said.
“Hi, Matt,” Amber said, walking to the front of the house. “I heard the doorbell go off and then wondered what you guys were doing up here.”
“It’s nice to see you again, Amber,” he said.
“We were talking about work,” she said. “I told Matt I felt horrible I was so busy this week and I don’t think much is going to come out of it.”
“I told Anya that happens a lot in life. It’s about what you put in but not always what you get out. Those things come in time,” Amber said.
“I’m learning that,” he said.
“Just like it’s taken time for you two to get to this point. If you hadn’t interrupted her date months ago, you’d both have animosity toward each other.”
“We aren’t going to bring the past up, are we, Mother?”
“No,” Amber said. “Come on back. Elliot is waiting. He knows you’re coming and is in a good spot.”
“I’m glad,” he said.
He walked with Anya to a family room in the back of the house.
“Hi, Matt,” Elliot said, standing up. He realized now that Anya’s father seemed much frailer than he had a decade ago.
Anya had told him that her father didn’t eat as much and slept more than anything. He did tinker around the house to stay busy and alert. Even spent time on an iPad doing brain games.
How hard it had to be to watch the man you love fade away.
“Elliot, thanks for inviting me to dinner.”
“That’s all Amber,” Elliot said. “My wife loves a good social gathering.”
He looked at Anya and saw her shake her head but had a grin on her face.
“I do,” Amber said. “It’s been years though.”
“Work has kept me busy,” Elliot said. “That won’t be a problem much longer. Anya is selling the building and we’re getting rid of stock rapidly. It’s about time I retire. Maybe Amber and I can do some traveling. I always told her we could.”
He saw the sad smile fill Amber’s face. “We’ll talk about it.”
“Can I get you a beer or something else to drink?” Anya asked him.
“Water is good,” he said.
Anya went to the kitchen with her mother and Matt moved over to sit in the living room with Elliot.
“Did you see the flowers in the front yard?” Elliot asked. “I’ve promised Amber new flowers for years and we planted them a few weeks ago.”
“I noticed them,” he said. “They look awesome.”
They looked professional to him. Must be Elliot had some hidden talents in there. Or a new hobby.
“My father is a pro at weeding,” Anya said, handing over the bottle of water. She leaned in close to his ear. “Not planting. They’ve been there for years, but he spends hours out there picking weeds and pruning now.”
“We haven’t had a chance to talk about Shelly,” Amber said. “Any updates that we need to be aware of?”
“Actually,” Matt said. “There are. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to discuss it now.”
He looked at Elliot. He didn’t want to cause any anxiety or set Anya’s father off.
By the look Anya was sending her mother, he got the impression she didn’t want to talk about this.
“We can hold off,” Anya said.
“No,” Amber said. “Elliot would like to know.”
This was putting him between a rock and a hard place.
Anya and her mother were staring at each other. “Go ahead,” she said.
“Don’t let my daughter dictate things,” Amber said. “I asked; you can tell us. She’ll have to get over the fact that she gets anxious about things someone might not understand.”
Heard. Something to file away at a later date.
“I talked to the ADA over a week ago. I knew Shelly’s attorney was going to approach with an offer. Payment of everything back that she’d taken. It’d be her restitution and the hopes you’d drop the suit. That will go a long way for her not getting jail time. I turned it down.”
“Good,” her mother said.
“Wait,” Anya said. “You turned it down without even asking my parents? What if they wanted that and it was the best they were going to get?”
“They are going to get that regardless, Anya. Shelly will be ordered to pay restitution. If her attorney is making that offer to me on the side to drop the suit, they have the money. We know Shelly has it. She has close to a million at this point with the money she used to invest. Her attorney is stating that it wasn’t the money she’d stolen to invest.”
“Bull crap,” Elliot said. “I know what she made and heard her complaining about bills and debt.”
He grinned at Elliot’s firm voice. “Exactly. I countered with the full amount of her investments. She’ll sell and have to pay penalties and that is her problem. The full amount of them is the offer I’d bring to the table to settle out of court.”
“What did they say?” Amber asked.
“This was a few days ago. I’m still waiting. Tomorrow is the deadline. As I said, you’re going to get back what she stole. That’s a given. She wants to stay out of jail, she has the money, and that will work well with her plea deal. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. Trust me.”
“She shouldn’t be homeless,” Elliot said. “She got greedy and people let it consume them.”
“It happened,” Amber said. “But it was wrong. I like what you’re doing, Matt, and if we can get her full investments, I think we take that deal. What do you think, Elliot?”
“Anything to get this over with,” Elliot said. “You don’t need to deal with this much more.”
“I know where we stand right now,” Matt said. “Everyone wants to avoid a trial.”
“That’s right,” Anya said. “We should take whatever we can to just move on.”
“Never give in to the first offer,” he said. “That’s not how it works unless it’s the full settlement.”
“You think I was wrong with my parents accepting the first offer on the building?” she asked, her back straightening.
“Anya,” Amber said. “Matt just said unless it’s the full asking and that is what they offered. What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Anya said, getting up and going into the kitchen.
“Excuse me,” Matt said, following her. “What’s going on? You’re mad at me and I’m not sure why.”
“I don’t want to talk about this now just like I didn’t want to talk about the case in front of my father. He’s having a good day.”
“Yes,” he said. “He is. And he’s not worked up over anything either.”
“My mother doesn’t get days like this often. I don’t want to take it from her.”
“Anya,” Amber said, coming in. “Stop. I don’t want to embarrass you in front of your boyfriend.
I appreciate you are looking out for me, but this is my decision with your father.
You have to let go of it at times. You don’t like to see what is going on, but putting your head in the sand won’t change it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on dinner. ”
Anya’s face was red, and she marched back into the living room leaving him there while Amber opened the oven. “Stay, Matt.”
Jesus, this wasn’t turning out at all like he’d thought.
“Anything I can help you with?”
“Yes,” Amber said, shutting the oven. “Not letting Anya boss you around.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “She’s not.”
“She will if you let her. I know you two have had a rocky start.”
He snorted. “If you count when we were kids.”
“That’s right,” Amber said. “She’s upset because she still has triggers when my husband yells. From when he fought with EJ. She’ll do anything to avoid that and has to stop worrying.”
“I’ll talk to her about it if it comes up,” he said.
“It won’t. She won’t want to talk about it. But she’s mad you didn’t come to us with the first offer. I know my daughter. I saw it on her face.”
“So did I,” he said.
“You work for me. I’m not mad. Just remember that. You’ll have to solve that conflict if it’s an issue, but you did right by us.”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
He hadn’t realized he would need to hear that.
The client had to come first.
His parents warned him not to let this get messy.
He thought he had it under control, but he was slowly learning otherwise.
Two hours later, Anya was walking into his condo with him. The original plan was she’d spend the night and they’d go about their day tomorrow morning.
He wasn’t so sure that was going to happen after the tense dinner.
“Get it off your chest, Anya,” he said. “I will not walk on eggshells in my home.”
She snarled. “I wasn’t going to come. You put me on the spot in front of my parents.”
“You didn’t have to drive here,” he said, crossing his arms. “You could have gone straight to your place.”
“Maybe I should,” she said, mirroring his stance.
He moved in front of the door. “No. I’m sorry. You’re mad at me. I saw it on your face and didn’t need your mother to tell me why. But I work for her, not you. You knew asking me over tonight that it could come up.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I did.”
“Then what are you really upset about? That I didn’t present the first offer? This isn’t real estate. And between us, your mother and I have had multiple conversations on her expectations and what I’m allowed to handle without going to her with it first.”
“I didn’t know that,” she said.
“It’s not for you to know from me. That has to come from Amber and you’ll have to take it up with her.”
Amber had told him she wanted more than what was owed to them and to do what he could to get it.
He knew they’d get that at a minimum once it was discovered that Shelly had the funds.
“I will take it up with her,” she said.
“Then why are you taking it out on me?”
“Because you told me to trust you and I trusted you to tell me everything.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. He was going to listen to Amber and not let Anya do this to them. “I’m telling you things between us. The case isn’t between you and me. Don’t confuse the two.”
“You don’t understand,” she said. She was pacing around his living room.
“I do,” he said. “You don’t want your parents to deal with this any longer. The sooner the building is sold, and the sooner they get their money from Shelly, the sooner Shelly’s case is closed, you can all move on with your lives.”
“That’s right,” she said. She turned to look at him. “Stress will only confuse and agitate my father more. My mother doesn’t need that.”
“No,” he said. “She doesn’t. But she can’t control it all.”
Her face crumpled and suddenly Anya was crying. She’d done a good job holding tears from him in the past, but she couldn’t now.
He pulled her into his arms. “You can’t steer the car here either. You’re working yourself into the ground.”
“This is about us not seeing each other, isn’t it?” she sobbed.
He sighed. That came out wrong.
“No. It’s not. I needed to get things done this week and maybe it worked out well. Did I miss you? Yes. I did. I’m not going to lie. But I’m talking about mentally working yourself into the ground. You’re moving in ten directions at once.”
“I’m doing what any child would do,” she said.
But her brother wasn’t.
She was trying to make up for it. Any idiot could see that.
“What most kids would do,” he said. “What I’d do and my siblings.”
“Not mine,” she said.
He was rubbing her back. “You can’t force people to be someone they aren’t. But you can’t take it all on yourself either. I’m here. Ask me for help. I’ll give it to you.”
“I didn’t want you to talk about the case in front of my father, but you still did,” she said moving out of his arms. “That’s not helping.”
There was no winning here.
“Anya. I’m going to be an asshole and throw your mother under the bus. I think she’d be fine with it. She wouldn’t have told me what she had if she didn’t want me to have this information.”
“What?” Anya asked, tapping her foot.
“She told me you have triggers with your father raising his voice and yelling. That it reminds you of when you were a child and your father fought with EJ. You will do anything to not have to deal with that again.”
“She shouldn’t have said that to you,” she said.
“But she did and she’s right. If you can move past what I did to you when you were younger, you can move past this. EJ’s not here. He’s not causing problems. Your father is going to have good and bad days, but he’s not to blame for them.”
“I know,” she said, sniffling some more. “But I don’t want to see them, yet I can’t leave my mother alone to deal either.”
“And you won’t,” he said. “Be gentle on yourself. On us too. I’m going to mess up. So are you. I didn’t deserve for you to get pissy with me over something I have little say over, just like you shouldn’t get upset over something your father can’t manage.”
He saw her shoulders stiffen. “Easier said than done.”
“That’s right,” he said. “But we are both mature adults that can communicate. We can talk it out. Your mother told me not to let you do this to us and I’m choosing to believe her.”
“She shouldn’t have said that either,” she said.
Matt sighed. “But she did. She’s rooting for us. That’s the best part of this night. Can’t you look at that and take it as a win?”
Anya lifted her head, a runaway tear escaping down her cheek.
“I’m trying,” she said.
“Try harder,” he said. “I know you can do it.”
He squeezed her tighter and let her cry. Something he’d never seen or heard from her before.
If she’d done this once when they were younger, he would have never continued picking on her, but she let no one see this side of her.