Chapter 2
Alex hung up the phone and decided that he needed to look into the lottery rules.
He had a lot more information than he’d thought he’d get from a client, but he wasn’t surprised.
Lori Hamilton seemed like she was smart for all the trouble that winning the lottery was going to give her.
As soon as he pulled up the information that he was looking for, he realized that she was right about a lot of things.
She only had thirty days to claim her money, or it would be forfeited.
He did wonder what happened to the money once someone didn’t claim it.
It took him most of the afternoon to look into what he needed to do for her.
Most of the information she’d already given him, and he was happy that she’d done her homework.
She didn’t have to claim the money so that anyone would know it was she who had won, and he was happy for that.
That was a great deal of money to be had, and everyone in the world would be coming after her for a little bit of her winnings.
He spent most of the day going over the rules of winning.
Like he’d thought, she’d done her research and had everything all lined up for him.
All he had to do was claim the money for her, and that would be the end of his helping her.
Other than the LLC, Limited Liability Company, which was set up for her to be responsible for her own money and nothing that would belong to anyone else.
When Mac joined him in the office, she told him how she was going out on a jobsite tomorrow, as there were problems. He asked if there was anything that he could do to help her.
“I might need you to bring me down from being pissed off. Equipment is missing, and there are some of the people we work with who are saying that they’re not getting paid.
I’ve gone over the books for the place, and everything should have been in place before the first thing was worked on.
I have no idea what’s going on, but I intend to find out.
Heads are going to roll.” He laughed, and she smiled at him.
“But seriously, I have to figure this out, and I’m betting that at least three people are going to lose their jobs. ”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I know that that bothers you as well.” She said that it was the worst part of her job. “I can understand that. You don’t want anyone out of work nowadays when we’re working so hard in bringing labor costs down.”
“I’ll be all right. Especially when it turns out to be their fault.
I guess I need to go in there with the attitude that I’m going to look into things first, then do the firing if I don’t get the answers that I want.
And it’s doubtful that anyone is going to have satisfactory reasons for nearly five thousand dollars of equipment and materials missing.
” He said that was a great deal. “No kidding. I’m not sure how I’m going to reap the benefits from this, but I will.
Someone had better have a good excuse for the things missing.
When I tell a person how much it’s going to cost to get a building done, I know right to the nail how many I’m going to need.
Having to find where the things have been taken from is going to cost someone their job.
” He told her what he was going to be doing tomorrow.
“I have to travel to Cleveland to get the processes for someone who won the lottery. She wants to pick it up without anyone knowing that she’s won it.” She asked if it was a great deal of money. “After taxes and my fee, she’ll end up with nearly thirty billion dollars.”
“Shit! That’s a lot of winnings. I guess I can understand why she doesn’t want anyone to know that she’s won.
That would bring out every relative that she has, saying that she owes them money.
” He said that’s what she said. “All right. I’ll see you when you get back home.
I have to be on site at eight before everyone starts, so I will be home for dinner. ”
“I don’t believe that I’ll be much later than you. She had everything all laid out for me, other than picking up the check. I wonder if they like it when people want to remain anonymous when they win? Not that I blame her, but I do wonder about the lottery commission and their take on the idea.”
“Probably want the publicity more.” After she left his office, he made notes on the things that she wanted him to do.
Lori was in for a lot of money, and so was he.
He didn’t need the money himself, but it would go a long way in padding his accounts.
As he was finishing up for the day, he decided that he wanted to go out to dinner with his brothers.
It had been a while, and he missed them.
After getting them all together, he decided that with the windfall he was going to be getting, he’d even pick up the tab.
It was going to be fun tonight, and he went to find Mac, his wife, to tell her where he was going.
They were all for it, and he was glad. Now, if he could get his other brothers married off, he’d feel like he’d accomplished a great deal.
He wanted everyone to be as happy as he was and decided that he’d find all the single females around and start introducing them to his brothers.
Knowing that wouldn’t work, he thought that they’d kill him even if he tried that, even the one time.
He decided to let nature take its course on things of the heart and wait for them to get up off their asses and find someone.
With him and Kahana married, there would be a lot of women coming through to find the right one for his younger brothers.
At dinner, he had a wonderful time. They all had missed getting together, and he was happy that he’d thought of them having dinner tonight.
They were in great moods, and he couldn’t have picked a better place for them to have dinner.
The food was fantastic, and the service was great.
The others left the tip because he paid for dinner, and he knew that the staff was going to make enough to make it worth their while only waiting on them.
Not that they were demanding, but with six men at the table, it would be hard to get much more done at another table.
He loved going out to eat with his family.
“We really need to do this more often.” He agreed with Penrod when he spoke. “I know we keep saying that we’re going to get together weekly, but we never seem to get around to it. I miss you guys when we’re not all together.”
“I miss you guys as well. I know that I see one or two of you daily, but it’s not the same. I want to spend time with all of you.” Audon agreed with the others in that they had to make time for family. “Yes, before all the rest of you get married and have kids of your own.”
“I don’t know that that’s going to happen anytime soon.
I’m not even dating all that much. Last time I was on a date, movies only cost seven bucks.
I think it’s about double that now.” They all laughed at Stamos, and he got made fun of.
“But seriously, when was the last time any of you have been out? I bet it’s been about as long as it’s been for me. ”
“I went out last weekend.” Gilman looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Or was it the weekend before. I don’t remember.
I do remember it being a flop. She wanted us to go someplace fancy that would take us a jet to get there and back.
I don’t know anyone who owns a jet, much less go someplace fancy where I would be seen with her.
Who does that sort of thing anyway? Only people in those romance books are the ones who take women out on jets.
He’d better be getting a good lay out of it. ”
“You never were a romantic.” They all laughed at Gilman, and he did as well. “I’d say you’re right about being seen. I don’t date anymore, but I know how hard it was when I was out there. Women are strange.”
They were careful about talking about women and their oddities. Axel had a wife who was perfect, and he was happy to have her. But he’d been out on dates before where women would expect a great deal out of the date that he wasn’t willing to give up on.
As they were leaving the restaurant, he decided that he was really going to do this every week. It was fun getting together with family, and his brothers were the best family that anyone ever had. He might even ask his dad along the next time.
They’d have to temper their conversations with him around, but he didn’t think anyone would mind.
It would be great to have Dad with them on some of their more adventurous talks.
He’d not be able to tell Mom about them, but he was sure that Dad would tell her what a great time they’d all had together.
After leaving the restaurant, setting up a day next week for their next time getting together, he got in his car and drove home.
He’d heard from each of them on the way home about how much fun they’d had, and he was glad that he’d thought of it.
Next week was going to be even more fun as they had all week to get into things that they could talk about.
When he got home, it was later than he thought it had been, and Mac was in bed. Crawling in beside her, she wrapped her warm body around his. She asked him if he’d had a good time, and he told her it was the best. So much so that they’d already made plans to do it weekly.
“I think I’m going to start doing that sort of thing with Debra.
Then, when the other women start showing up, we can already have it established that we go out weekly, too.
What do you think?” He said he thought it was a wonderful idea.
“Good. I was going to ask your mom to go with us, too. She’d probably enjoy herself, don’t you think?
I mean, we might talk about her sons some, but she can handle that. ”