All Grown Up(63)

“Umm… That’s right. I’m…confusing her with another client. I’m so sorry about that…Athena...right.”

People made mistakes with names all the time. Hell, I didn’t remember most people’s names thirty seconds after I met them. But something about Andi told me she hadn’t made any mistake. Though, that made no sense.

My head was definitely screwing with me here—all the memories of the time Dad and I had spent together working on this building. I let the funny feeling I had pass in favor of finishing the tour. Outside, I gulped fresh air into my lungs.

“So the seller is looking to get out clean—pay what he paid and walk away. But I have a feeling there might be some wiggle room. Between us, it’s not a very amicable divorce, and I think a fast sale and not dragging out separating assets might make them willing to take it at a small loss.”

I nodded, but felt wiped out for some reason. I was glad I’d decided to stay in town tonight to walk through with a building engineer tomorrow because I had a feeling half of what I saw today might be a blur by morning. My emotions were really screwing with me.

“Would you like any suggestions for dinner or anything?” Andi asked after she locked the front door. She still seemed slightly off—almost standoffish or nervous.

“No, thank you. The hotel has a restaurant in it, and I’ll probably just eat there.”

“Okay…so…I’ll see you at nine tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Nine o’clock. Thanks for the tour today.”

I got into my rental car and watched as Andi pulled away. Rather than start the car, I rested my head on the headrest for a few minutes with my eyes closed. I took a few deep breaths, but couldn’t shake the screwed-up feeling in my gut.

So I picked up the phone and called the accounting manager at my office. “Hey, Dan. It’s Ford. Do we still have my parents’ expense reports from years ago?”

“We keep six years of records in one of the storage units. IRS can generally go back and audit you for the last three years, but if they find a substantial error, they can go back six. Your dad liked to stay on the safe side, especially since he certainly had the storage space. Do you need something?”

“Think you can pull both my dad and my mom’s expense reports and see if my mom ever came on any of my dad’s trips to Chicago?”

“Yeah. Sure. Give me a few hours.”

“Thanks, Dan.”

***

Some thoughts are like a loose thread in a sweater. You can either pull it and chance unraveling the entire thing, or cut it off and move on. When Andi said my mom had come to Chicago with my dad on more than one occasion, it was a loose thread. But I cut it off and moved on, able to chalk it up to my mom not wanting me to feel badly that she got to come see the project I had worked on for years.

But then another thread came loose when Andi said my mother’s name was Marie Louise—she’d sounded so certain. And the second time, I couldn’t just cut the thread and move on. I’d pulled, and now it felt like I was waiting for my entire world to unravel.

After I’d checked into my hotel, I’d gone to the gym to work off some of my unsettled energy and then showered. Now I was sitting at the bar of the restaurant. My phone finally rang just as I got my burger.

“Hey, Dan.”

“Hey, Ford.”

“Did you find anything?”

“I checked all the expense reports we had, and we have no record of your mom ever taking a trip to Chicago. Their assistant made all their reservations and did their expense reports for the company—not likely she’d miss something, but I suppose it’s possible.”

My chest started to hurt, and I rubbed at it. “Any chance you remember if we had hired an interior designer in Chicago? I’m up here looking at the building we used to own—it came back on the market.”

Dan had been with the company as long as I’d been alive and remembered everything.

“Your dad was pretty good about not spending on projects before the official construction began. You never know when you might get problems from the building department that change all your plans.”

I nodded. That was definitely true. I was just about to let him off the phone. Maybe Andi was wrong about everything with my dad, and I was pulling at a thread that just needed to be snipped. It honestly seemed ridiculous to think what I’d been thinking.

I laughed. “You’re right, Dan. Thanks a lot.”

“No problem. If you’re considering buying the building back, you might want to check in with your dad’s lawyer up there. I remember there was a zoning issue she’d worked on for him before the purchase—not sure if the current owner changed zoning back. But that’s something to look into if you decide to go forward.”

I nodded. This is why my parents paid Dan more than the average accounting manager—his mind was a steel trap.

“Thanks, Dan. Any chance you remember the attorney’s name?”

“Landsford, I think. Let me look it up in the computer. We would have cut her a check, and she’ll be in our vendor list. Hang on a second.”

My shoulders relaxed, and I reached down for the burger in front of me. Suddenly, my appetite had returned. Dan came back on the line just as I bit into it.

“Yeah, it was Landsford. Marie Louise Landsford, Esquire, is who we made the check out to.”