Page 39 of Ashes of Us

Danica and Cecil were up early the next morning and were out the door by eight.

The first stop was Danica and Jasper's insurance company.

Now armed with the death certificate, accident report, and the report from Robin about Jasper's car being unfixable, she was able to start the claim process for the accident and discuss the details about what she needed to do and keep track of until the investigation was done and she was able to remove Jasper from the policy when the claim was finished, while Cecil sat with an agent and removed himself from his policy with Amy, obtaining his own policy for the Charger.

Their next stop was the DMV, so Danica could transfer the registration to Cecil, and then the law firm she had retained when she was considering divorcing Jasper.

Since Cecil didn't want Amy to see the transactions regarding hiring the divorce lawyer, Danica paid the retainer to hire someone and initiate the process as soon as possible, including placing a freeze on their accounts so Amy couldn't drain their joint accounts or rack up credit card debt on the cards they had in both their names.

On the drive home, he insisted he would pay her back when things got sorted, but Danica wasn't too concerned about it, seeing it as a thank you for shining up his spine and standing up against his wife for her and Jasper and was telling him so when an idea struck her. “What are your plans for after all this is over?” She asked curiously. “I know you guys were planning to move into the senior’s village, is that something you still want to do?”

“Honestly? It was never what I wanted to do.” He admitted.

“Amy wanted to move to Dedham because she wanted out of the city, and then she wanted to move to the senior’s village because she felt isolated by our location.

I'm only fifty-nine, I'm in excellent health, and I wasn't ready to give everything up, but when Amy makes a decision, you either go along with her, or you're left behind.” He said it as if it were a foregone conclusion.

Do what Amy wanted or suffer the consequences.

“So, what do you want to do?” Danica pressed, a little confused.

Jasper had always made it seem like his parents were a team, discussing things and making decisions together, which is why he was so adamant about doing the same.

Clearly, it was more like Amy made the decisions, and they presented a united front to Jasper and the rest of the family.

“I'm not ready to stop working.” He said after a moment of thought.

“I'll be sixty later this year, but I'm in good health, mentally and physically, and Jasper and I agreed when we discussed you two taking over and rebranding the business that I would continue working with you guys as a part-time mechanic, not an owner.”

“Do you want our house?” It tumbled out of Danica before she let herself think about it.

“It's in Jasper's name, but we had insurance on the mortgage, so it will be paid off when I submit his death certificate.

I was thinking of selling it, but we could work out an accelerated rent-to-own plan if you're interested.” She knew he would never just let her gift him the house and garage and while she knew she could probably get close to a million dollars for their house and land, she knew he would never be able to afford a home in Boston on his own and that he wouldn't enjoy living in an apartment somewhere and working for someone else.

There may be some issues with the city, as it is a residential area, if he wanted to open a new garage as a business, but if he wanted to do the occasional repair job under the table, it would be fine.

“Where are you going to go?” Cecil frowned, looking interested but a little concerned. “Because, and no offence intended, but I'm not sure we would work well living together long-term.”

Danica let out a soft chuckle. “No, probably not.” While Cecil and Jasper shared many similar personality traits, and she liked Cecil a lot, she was already annoyed by the mess he left in his wake, and it had only been one night.

She wasn't a neat freak by any means, living with someone with ADHD made that impossible, but she liked things to be kept tidy.

Finding Cecil's beard trimmings in the sink and his wet towel on the bathroom floor this morning, not to mention the stack of dirty dishes she had to put in the dishwasher when she woke up, had made her grumble to herself.

It had taken her almost two years to get Jasper in the habit of picking up things, and she wasn't about to start training a sixty-year-old to do the same.

“I was planning to sell. There are just too many memories in our house, and I'm sad all the time when I'm home.

Many of the renovations were made with Jasper's “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” attitude and sensory issues in mind.

It is my home, but it was my home with him, and I just don't have it in me to change things or stay there.” She paused, debating whether she should say the next part, then deciding to be honest about everything.

“Besides, I hate being in the garage now.”

“Right.” He nodded slowly, verifying that Jasper had told him more about the fight than he admitted to Danica when she asked him what his parents had said about the handprint on his face.

“It's something we can discuss after the funeral.

In the meantime, if you don't mind me storing my things in your garage for now, I'll only be staying with you until Friday.

Reggie has invited me to come stay with him and his family for a couple of weeks, so I'm leaving right after the burial.”

“I think that would be good for you.” Danica smiled and patted his arm as she pulled into the driveway.

Amy never let him travel without her, so she felt that some time away from everything alone would be good for him.

“Spend some time with your family that you don't see very much and figure out what you want going forward.”

“Yeah, my brother is going to meet us there, do some camping and fishing.” Danica could see he was excited and let him talk about their plans for a few minutes before gently reminding him she had an appointment and would be gone for the afternoon.

He immediately got out of the car and promised to let her know if he went anywhere, so she would know if he would be home for dinner or not.

The drive to Maverick's office was quick, as it was also located in East Boston, just on the other side of the airport.

She found a parking spot a couple of blocks away and hurried down the street.

She hated being late, and Cecil and their errands had put her behind schedule.

She knocked lightly on the door and pushed open, bending down to greet Watson, who came running when he saw it was her, tail wagging frantically.

“Hello, Sweetie.” She smiled as he flopped down and rolled over, presenting his belly for scratches. “It's good to see you, too.”

“No one ever greets me that way.” Maverick appeared at the end of the hall, a mug of coffee in each hand, and a slight pout on his lips. “Even Toni greets him first when we go see her.” Danica turned her smile to him as she straightened up and accepted the coffee from him.

“Do you want your belly scratched too?” She teased as she took a sip and moved to sit on the couch, curling up in the corner.

Despite not having a lot of interaction with him, Maverick had a way of making you feel comfortable in his presence, like you could tell him your deepest, darkest secrets and he wouldn't judge you for them.

“Sometimes.” Maverick grinned as he sat in the chair across from her.

“How are you? David told me you were able to take Jasper off life support Monday night.” Danica nodded, holding her mug up and out of the way as Watson scrambled onto the couch next to her, nudging her elbow for more pets, which she happily gave him when he settled next to her.

“Yeah, we did. I'm good, I think. Relieved that that part is over, annoyed they were actually able to find sperm that wasn't completely degraded beyond use.” She scratched behind Watson's long ear absently as she thought about how she was feeling.

“But Jasper's father showed up on my doorstep that night.

He's left his wife and is now staying with me until the funeral on Friday, then going up north to stay with his nephew for a few weeks. So that's another win, I guess?”

“I'm not sure if it's a win or not,” Maverick murmured, looking weirdly put off by what she told him, before she had a chance to ask what he meant, he continued.

“Because that would mean Lucy has been directly involved in the breakdown of about eight marriages.” Maverick settled back in his chair and set his mug on the table next to him as he ran his hand through his hair. “She's really something else.”

Danica stared at him, both eyebrows rising so high she was surprised they didn't meld permanently with her hairline. “I'm sorry?”

“Yeah, David must have had the same thought process you did, because he reached out to me on Friday and asked me to dig deeper into her specifically.

He said, and I quote, “There's just something seriously off about her that I really don't like.” And since he's been an estate lawyer for twenty-five years and nothing brings out the crazy in families like wills and inheritances, he practically has a sixth sense when it comes to these things, so I did some digging and made some phone calls.” Maverick leaned forward and picked up a file from the coffee table, flicking it open and flipping through the pages.