Chapter 38 Like You Now
LIKE YOU NOW
“Hi, Amber,” Matt said on Friday morning. Anya moved past her mother and came to give him a kiss. They were in his office and all took a seat. He was in the chair, Amber and Anya on the couch.
“Thanks for fitting us in last minute like this,” Amber said.
“Always,” he said. “I’m glad Anya called me. And if for some reason I couldn’t meet this morning, one of my parents would have stepped in.”
He’d filled them in on what was happening last night when he got the call. All three of them had boots on the ground trying to figure out where EJ was staying and if he’d seen another attorney locally. So far, they were coming up empty.
“We appreciate it,” Amber said. “I’m not sure what we can do. I talked to Elliot this morning and he said he hadn’t seen EJ in years. He has no memory of yesterday and was annoyed I asked him. Is it possible that EJ wasn’t there and Elliot was confused?”
“No, Mom,” Anya said. “EJ signed his name on the visitors’ sheet. He wasn’t even smart enough to lie.”
“He’d be stupid to do that if he was going there to get your father’s signature on anything. Have you tried to see if they will let you look at the camera footage there? To see if EJ entered the building again?”
“I asked this morning when I called,” Amber said. “They were going to put the request in with the security, but this isn’t an urgent matter to them.”
“You can prohibit EJ from returning,” he said. “Have you thought of that?”
“We talked about it this morning,” she said. “EJ hasn’t returned either of our calls. I’m not sure if he thinks ignoring us will make it go away.”
“If he shows up, they have orders to call us,” Amber said. “Or me. They are nice there. I’ve been bringing cookies for the staff.”
He smiled. “I remember your cookies. Anya used to bring them to our house. She wouldn’t share with me and I had to eat them when she left.”
Anya swatted his arm. “I didn’t know that.”
“You didn’t like me enough back then to share.” He winked at her.
“I like you now.”
“You two are great together,” Amber said. “I’m so glad you found each other.”
“I’m glad too, Mom. But we have to get back to this issue with EJ.”
Matt heard buzzing and Amber reached into her purse and looked at her phone. “It’s the rehab facility. Hello.” They could hear a voice on the other end but not what was being said. “Can you keep him there? I’ll be right down.”
“He’s there?” Anya asked, standing. “They opened five minutes ago. He’s a sneaky prick. He probably thinks if he can get in and out when Dad is more coherent, he can get this taken care of.”
“I don’t know what his plan is, but he’s not alone. There’s another man with him. Someone in a suit,” Amber said.
“Screams lawyer to me,” she said, looking Matt over.
“Let’s go have a chat,” he said, standing with them.
“You’re coming with us?” she asked.
“Yep.” He walked over to his desk and grabbed an envelope.
“What’s that?”
“A copy of the power of attorney. Once the sale of the building is complete, this would be on file with the court anyway, but otherwise it’s not required. Your father might not have said there was one in place, but he has to sign a new one and it needs to be in front of a notary.”
“Which could happen now,” she said.
“Your father is incapable of making a sound decision. The courts would side with you on this and not EJ.”
“No one wants to take this to court,” she said. “And right when we are trying to sell the building. That’s it, I’m sure. I bet he found out it’s for sale and under contract.”
“We’re going to find out,” he said.
Matt followed them there since Amber and Anya had driven together. When they walked into the building, they signed in and asked to see Madelyn.
The young woman came up to get them. “Hi, Amber. Your son is here. He’s in the waiting room. We told him that Elliot was getting bathed and he waited.”
“Is he?” Anya asked.
“No. I took a risk that he’d want to give your father that time to wake up. I might have thrown it out there that Elliot was always much more alert after.”
“Thank you,” Anya said.
They followed Madelyn down the hall and turned into the conference room and saw Anya’s brother sitting in a chair. The guy next to him screamed recent bar graduate.
“What are you doing here, EJ?” Amber asked.
“I came to see Dad. Who are you?”
“Matt Kelly,” he said, moving forward. “Attorney with Kelly Law Firm.”
The guy next to EJ had stood up and all but paled.
“Why do you need an attorney?” EJ asked Amber.
“Why haven’t you returned my calls?” Amber asked.
“Or mine?” Anya asked. Her eyes were ready to shoot laser beams into her brother’s skull.
“It’s none of your business,” EJ snapped at Anya. “I came here to see Dad.”
Matt looked at the young guy next to EJ. “You are?”
“Riley Stone, attorney.”
“Why don’t the two of us have a little chat over here while the family talks,” he said, nodding his head.
“You don’t have to,” EJ said. “I’m paying you.”
Matt looked at Riley and lifted an eyebrow. “Yes, I need to see what is going on. I’ll be back,” Riley said.
Matt handed over the papers. Inside were copies of Elliot’s medical history. “You know as well as I do, this will not go over as smoothly as EJ is hoping. I’m not positive what he’s told you.”
Riley looked over the documents, then moved to the medical history and sighed.
“None of this. He said his father was hurt at work and that his mother had mental health issues and wasn’t able to make sound decisions.
He wanted a power of attorney and medical proxies lined up.
He mentioned a new will, but we hadn’t gotten there.
He never mentioned a sister living nearby. ”
“You didn’t think to check into any of this?” he asked.
“He showed up yesterday,” Riley said. “He’d called me from Australia and said it was urgent and he was flying in. I had the time. He told me he was here yesterday to talk to his father about it and his father agreed once he read it over and they would sign it together.”
Matt snorted. “Let me ask you, if his father threw a fit like he did yesterday and EJ was asked to leave again, what would you have done?”
“Listen. I might be green, but I’m not an idiot. I wouldn’t have released the document to be signed.”
That was something, at least.
“Good,” he said. “It will not be signed. If anyone has issues, it’s not my clients.”
They turned when they heard a screech and saw it was EJ pushing a chair in frustration across the room. “I have a right to a say here,” EJ yelled.
Matt rushed over when EJ marched in front of Anya, but his girlfriend stood her ground.
“Don’t even think about it,” Matt snarled, and stood in front of her. “If you think you’ve got a leg to stand on, you can petition the courts. Otherwise, leave.”
“I don’t have to listen to you,” EJ shouted and stepped to the side.
“You do,” he said more calmly. “Amber, do you want to get security?”
“I’m going now,” Amber said.
“Don’t be a bitch, Mom,” EJ whined. “This is all about Anya, the favorite kid getting her way. She’s going to take all the money from the sale of the building. It should come to me. I’m the oldest.”
He’d never seen a grown man stomp their foot before.
“You’ve never been around,” Anya said. She wasn’t yelling, but her voice was higher than normal.
The nice, friendly girl that had gotten walked all over when she was younger was no more.
“We’ve tried to keep you involved in what was going on and you wiped your hands of it.
Now suddenly you think I’m getting something more than you and you’re pissed.
Mom still has us splitting everything in the will. ”
“I don’t believe it,” EJ said, crossing his arms. “You’re a stupid little crying bitch like you always were.”
Matt growled and took a step forward again. “You need to leave.”
“Get out of my face,” EJ said, shoving him.
He wanted to back the bastard against the wall but knew better than to lay his hands on someone.
Anya sidestepped before he knew what she was about and pushed her brother’s arm. All hell was breaking loose in the circus. “Everything isn’t all about you. It’s always been that way. You’re not happy unless you’re causing issues.”
“You didn’t just lay your hands on me,” EJ snarled.
An evil came into the guy’s eyes.
Matt saw the rapid change and stepped in front of Anya the minute EJ swung. The guy’s fist connected with his left cheek and eye instead of his girlfriend’s face.
His head snapped to the side, then came around. He grabbed EJ by the shirt before he could stop himself from reacting.
Security came rushing in and pulled them apart. EJ was kicking and screaming like a teenage girl having her phone taken away.
“You need to settle down now or we’re going to restrain you like we do patients,” the security guard said. They had EJ wrapped up in their arms and got his hands behind his back. “The police are on the way now.”
“Why?” EJ shouted. He was crying and kicking his feet up on the ground in a fit of rage.
“You just assaulted someone. We have to file it and he might want to press charges,” the security guard said. “Stop fighting me.”
Matt looked at Amber, saw her crying. Anya was livid and asking someone for ice. He could taste blood in his mouth.
He’d never taken a shot to the face before and had to admit he never wanted to again.
A nurse came in after EJ was escorted out. “Let us check you out. We want to make sure you’re all right. You’re going to have one hell of a shiner.”
Matt was led into a chair and felt like an idiot over EJ catching him like that. Once the nurse was done looking him over, she gave him an ice pack to put on his face.
“I’m so sorry, Matt,” Amber said. Her face was bright red and there were dried tears on her cheeks.
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for. If the guard hadn’t come in when he had, I’m not sure what I would have done.”
The thought that Anya could have taken that hit to the face made him want to vomit.
At least he hoped it was that and not the pain he was feeling.
“You should press charges against him,” Anya said. “It’d serve him right.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. Big mistake as it only magnified the pain. “Any criminal record could cause his passport to be revoked. Do you want him here, or back in Australia?”
“You know my answer,” she said, her shoulders slumping.
“Exactly. My pride has taken enough hits in my life. This isn’t that big of a deal.”
She moved his hand out of the way to look at his face. “It looks painful.” Her eyes were filling with tears. He didn’t want her any more upset.
“I’m not going to lie. It is,” he said. “Got any aspirin on you?”
“I’ve got some,” Amber said. She moved over and got him a cup of water and handed him two pills. Her hand was shaking. Everyone just had enough today.
“Thanks.” He put them in his mouth with the water and swallowed.
“I owe you, Matt,” Amber said, wiping at her fresh tears. “I feel horrible this happened.”
“You did nothing wrong,” he said. He moved his jaw around some and tasted more blood. “Please don’t add this to the guilt you’re feeling.”
“Mom,” Anya said. “Why don’t you bake Matt some cookies? I bet it goes a long way for you both to feel better.”
“I can do that,” Amber said, nodding and forcing a smile. “What kind do you want?”
Matt tried to smile back, but it hurt like hell. “The ones with the jelly in the center. They were fantastic.”
“Those are Anya’s favorite too,” Amber said, her bottom lip trembling. Everyone was trying to put on a brave face. She moved over and gave him a hug. “Thank you for being such a good person. This is a mess.”
“You’re welcome. Why don’t you go see Elliot? He doesn’t need to know any of this, don’t you think?”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Amber left the room. Riley had gone after EJ and it left Matt and Anya together.
“It’s been a crazy morning,” she said, sitting next to him. “My heart won’t stop racing. You’re being a good sport about this though.”
“Anya, if his fist had connected with you, I’m not sure what I would have done. He’d be pressing charges against me once he woke and could get his ass off the floor.”
“My hero,” she said, giving him a kiss on the lips. Just the barest of touches. She was shaking like her mother was but trying not to show it. “I’m going to have to take care of you this weekend and that pretty face of yours will not look so hot in court.”
“I’ll have to come up with some good reason for it. I insulted my girlfriend’s cooking and she hit me with a frying pan.”
“Stop,” she said, laughing. “I’d knock you out cold if I hit you with a frying pan. Trust me, I thought of it a few times when we were younger.”
“How about you kicked me in the face when we were rolling around in the bed having a wild sex session? That sounds much more manly than your screaming brother landing a sucker punch on me.”
“If it makes you feel better, you can tell people you tripped and fell and hit the side of the bed. That’s about all your explanation is going to include if it states the bedroom.”
He stood up. “I’ll keep it simple and tell everyone it’s too embarrassing how it happened.”
“Or you can say the truth,” she said gently. “That you took the punch meant for your girlfriend. Like a hero.”
“I like that. Mighty Matt, the hero,” he said, grinning. “Ouch. That hurt.” He hoped none of his teeth were loose.
“Oh boy,” she said. “I’m going to hear this all night long, aren’t I?”
“Do you think I can get a shirt made with that on it?”
“Let’s go, Matt,” she said, giving him a little shove that didn’t budge him. “You need to drive me home since my mother is staying. Or better yet, give me your keys and I’ll drive.”
“I think we both need to go back to my place and rest. What do you say?”
“I say, it sounds like a good idea. I’ve got to take care of my man. My hero.”