Page 3 of Fierce-Matt (Fierce Matchmaking #19)

NORMAL HOUSEHOLD

“Hi, Mom,” Anya said, walking into her parents’ house on Friday morning, three days later. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good,” her mother said. “Your father had a rough night though.”

Her shoulders dropped, the air pushed out of her lungs fast enough her lips flapped. “What happened?”

“He forgot to take his pills even though I handed them to him yesterday morning. I should have stood there and watched him, but I didn’t. Last night he was getting combative.”

“Did he hit you? Yell at you?”

Oh lord. She hadn’t thought of this possibility.

“Just a lot of yelling.” Her mother’s eyes filled with tears. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying, but it’s still upsetting.”

Which meant her father was swearing and insulting.

The man who raised her didn’t exist anymore.

His body was present, his mind not so much. At least not consistently.

Elliot Emerson always had a temper, but it was usually directed toward her brother EJ. Never her or her mother.

Her father was often supportive and gentle with the women in his life, when he was around to be that way.

“How did you get him to calm down? You should have called me.”

“You don’t need to deal with this on top of everything else going on in your life. You said you had a few house showings last night. Tell me how they went.”

She walked to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. It was barely seven in the morning, but they were going to have a family call with EJ who lived in Australia. It was ten at night there, so this seemed to be the best way to get everyone at once while they were still awake.

“It went well. They were interested in the second house they saw and were going to let me know today if they wanted to put an offer in. I hope they do.”

It’d be months before the house closed, but looking forward to that commission would be a highlight she’d need in her life.

“Fingers crossed they will.”

“Where is Dad now?”

“He’s still sleeping and it’s for the best. He doesn’t need to be awake for this call.”

It didn’t take much to get her father worked up and just EJ’s name would do it.

“Have you heard anything from the police?” she asked.

“They are still gathering all the information. I believe a formal arrest is imminent,” her mother said.

“What are the chances of the money being returned to the business?”

“I’m not holding my breath. Even if we got it back, I don’t think we can keep the business going.

I don’t want to burden you with this, but I think we have to sell.

I can’t leave your father in charge, and I don’t want to take on the responsibility.

If we don’t sell, I’ll have to file bankruptcy within six months.

” Her mother moved to get a tissue and blow her nose, then wipe her eyes. “I don’t want to do that.”

Anya let out a breath she’d been holding and pulled her mother forward for a hug. “You won’t lose the house, will you?”

“No,” her mother said. “Your father wanted to leverage the house years ago when we took out a line of credit and I refused. Without my signature, he wasn’t able to.”

“Thank God,” she said, moving back.

“After we talk to EJ, we can figure out a plan going forward.”

“The plan is to sell,” she said. “EJ isn’t here and he will not care. He never has and never will. This is about you and Dad. More you than Dad, as much as it pains me to say it.”

“Your father and brother have never gotten along,” her mother said.

“I don’t want to talk about that now. You tell me what you need me to do to help you.”

“I’ll want you to list it once we figure out the value. Thankfully we own the building. If someone wants to buy the business, that would be better; otherwise we’ll have to close the doors in a few months anyway.”

Her father had started Emerson Supplies, a plumbing and electrical supply company, before she was born.

With commercial hardware stores and online shopping, the business had been dwindling. He should have sold a long time ago and then it wouldn’t have been another problem her mother would have to solve.

“How many people are still working there?”

“Only six. Four are full time,” her mother said. “I’ve got a CPA firm handling all the accounting and figuring out the damage.”

“I can’t believe Shelly did that.”

Shelly Cooper had been the accountant for her father since the day he opened the doors.

Shelly had been embezzling money under her father’s nose for years. It frustrated Anya that her father hadn’t realized it, but he had complete trust in the woman who’d worked by his side from the beginning.

They’d been a team in her father’s eyes.

Some team that was!

“She claims it started eight years ago when her husband died. Bills were mounting.”

“I don’t care about her reason,” she said. “She stole from you and Dad. She’s part of the reason the business was failing and now it’s all but trash.”

“Come here,” her mother said. “We both need another hug. Your father made a lot of mistakes and one of them was not selling years ago. He held on because he worried about Shelly and if she could find another job or not.”

Anya snorted. “Are you kidding me? Look how she stabbed him in the back.”

“Your father wasn’t ready to let it go. But we knew he would when he turned sixty-five.”

“That was three years ago. Not that he knows his age.” Maybe on a good day he might.

“No,” her mother said, shaking her head. The phone rang. “And that is EJ.”

“Might as well get this over with,” she said.

Her mother answered the phone and put it on speaker. “Hi, Mom,” EJ said. “Is Anya there?”

“I’m here,” she said.

“Then I don’t understand why I need to be part of this call,” EJ said. Exasperation and annoyance were pouring through the speaker.

Anya clenched her jaw and all but spit the words out. “Because it’s about Dad, and Mom needs everyone’s support.”

“Dad doesn’t care what I think or say,” EJ snarled. “He never did.”

She puffed her cheeks out and counted silently to five in her head. “Put your opinions aside,” she said. “Please.”

Both her father and brother were hotheads. It made growing up in the house a horrible place to be. She escaped to Phoebe’s as much as she could to just be part of a normal household.

One where they sat down for a family dinner and had caring and humorous family talks.

No one yelled at the other and they sure the heck didn’t upend plates of food on the floor or throw them against the wall.

EJ was famous for temper tantrums since the day Anya was born three years after him, often destroying his room or other objects in the house in a fit of rage.

When she needed calm the most in her life, she often got treated to Matt’s jokes and pranks.

At first they were funny. She liked the attention, but then he pushed the limit and only added more to her stressful life.

“What’s going on?” EJ asked. “Did they find out how much that bitch took and are we getting it back?”

She hated how he said “we.” The money would go to her mother and father.

That was EJ’s problem. He thought he’d get everything. Entitlement should have been branded on her brother’s forehead because it was the mantra he lived by.

“Not yet,” her mother said. “The police are still working on the amount and Shelly is cooperating.”

“She should be in jail,” EJ said. “Instead she gets to stay at her house and spend the money she stole from us to pay for legal fees.”

That was one thing she agreed with her brother on.

“It’s not up to us to make that call,” Anya said.

“Who is the person on the case?” EJ asked. “I’ll call and get some answers.”

There was no way she was letting her brother throw some weight around he didn’t possess and make matters worse.

“Don’t worry about those things,” her mother said.

Amber Emerson thought the same way she did.

“This is more about your father and what to do with the business. I told Anya that I think we have to put it up for sale. Maybe someone will want to buy it with the building, but otherwise, we need to close the doors within a few months. I don’t want to file bankruptcy. ”

“This is a joke,” EJ said. “Dad ran it all into the ground on us.”

“EJ,” Anya said as patiently as she could muster when all she wanted to do was hang up.

Her mother was crying. Her brother couldn’t see it, but even if he did, he wouldn’t care.

“It doesn’t matter. We have to figure out the future.

I’m going to list the business first and I think if we don’t get any offers in a month, then we liquidate supplies and assets, then sell the building. ”

“That should go in mine and Anya’s name,” EJ said. “That way if Dad ends up in a home they don’t take it from you, Mom.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at her mother so fast she was getting dizzy.

“It won’t matter,” her mother said. “I’m not positive of the number of years, but it’s around three or five it’d have to not be in our name for that to happen.”

Anya didn’t want to think of what her mother was saying.

That her father didn’t have that much time.

“It stays in Mom and Dad’s name,” she said. “One step at a time. Are we in agreement on the business?”

“I don’t give a shit,” EJ said. “It’s not like I’m getting anything by the sounds of it, so do whatever the hell you want.”

She took a deep breath and then another so she didn’t pick the phone up, drop it to the floor, then stomp on it.

She wasn’t one to lose her temper, but her brother could knock the patience out of a sloth.

“That’s taken care of. Mom, can you give us an update on Dad’s appointment this week?”

“Your father is in the middle stages of dementia. It’s worse than I thought. He seems to have declined rapidly in the past several months.”

“The stress of the business that he let run into the ground hasn’t helped,” EJ said.

“EJ! Keep your comments to yourself. They aren’t helping,” she said.

“Whatever,” her brother said. She could see him waving his hand in her mind as if swatting the conversation away. “What’s the next stage, Mom? You’re home caring for him, isn’t that all he needs?”

“Mom is caring for him, but she needs a break too. She can’t do it all.”

“Your father and I have a rider on our health insurance. I’ll be able to get some help in here a few times a week when the time comes. For now, I’ve got it handled.”

“I’ll deal with the business, Mom,” Anya said.

“Like you know the first thing about a business,” EJ said. “You barely finished high school and wasted money on two years of college that you dropped out of.”

“Thanks for the reminder.” She stopped short of adding the word asshole to the end of it.

“EJ,” her mother said. “If you can’t be constructive positively, then we don’t need you to be involved in these family calls.”

“Fine,” EJ said. “You never cared what I thought anyway.”

“That’s not true,” her mother argued.

“Mom, let me talk to EJ.” Amber walked away to check on their father so Anya picked the phone up and took it off of speaker. “EJ, cut the crap. Things aren’t good and I need you to come home and help get everything organized better for Mom.”

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Not happening,” EJ said. “I’m too busy at work and there isn’t anything for me to do. I’m not getting anything out of it and it sounds like there will be nothing left when Mom’s gone.”

“EJ!” she shouted. This call was a mistake, but her mother wanted her brother in on it. “That’s a horrible thing to say.”

But not surprising either.

“Deal with it yourself, Anya. You were Dad’s favorite, so have fun.”

What a laughable statement. Her father didn’t have a favorite. EJ would have been treated the same if he hadn’t been such a douche.

“Don’t be a jerk, EJ. Do it for Mom.”

“Sorry. You’re on your own.”

EJ disconnected the call.

“He hung up on you, didn’t he?” her mother asked.

Anya turned to see her standing in the doorway. “Yeah. I bet he’s throwing things around his apartment there now.”

Her mother forced out a laugh. “It will be his landlord’s problem.”

She sent her a watery grin and moved to hug her another time. “I’m sorry you’re going through this.”

“We are going through it together. I’m thankful I’ve got you. I tried to bring EJ in, but he made it clear where he stands. I can wipe my hands of it now.”

“He’s going to make problems on a legal standpoint if you don’t update your wills. I hate to bring it up, but you should consider all the possibilities. I don’t want anything, but I don’t want him taking anything from you either.”

“We need to get an attorney anyway,” her mother said.

“There are a lot of things to be updated from a medical and legal standpoint. I want to sue Shelly or at least threaten to. She owes us what she took. I know this sounds horrible, but if she has to sell her house to pay us back, then she should have to. I want to make life as comfortable as possible for your father.”

Which meant her mother would need the money that was stolen along with the sale of the business as soon as possible.

It’s not like Anya could help much. She was barely making ends meet on her own.

“Let’s take a few days to figure out the next course of action.

Before we list the business, I know Dad had a lot of regular contractors.

Maybe reach out to them and see if they are interested?

If not in the business, just buying the supplies.

Who cares if they are discounted? It’s about liquidating as fast as possible. ”

Anya wasn’t as stupid as her brother accused her of being.

“I’ll look things over this weekend and get on that next week. I know you’ve got to go to work.”

“I have nothing to do in the office today so can give you the time you need until I show up at Fierce at eleven for my shift.”

She’d taken a double since she had nothing lined up to show tonight. If she had to walk away to get an offer in for her clients, Justin would let her take that break since she was covering on such short notice.

“In that case…” Amber said. “Your father is still sleeping soundly. I don’t suppose you could help me clean out your brother’s room. I think it’s time to de-clutter the house. Might as well start there.”

She laughed. “Can I throw some of his stuff around and trash it like he would have?”

Her mother grinned. “Even if I said yes, you’d never do it. You don’t have it in you.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “But it was a nice thought. A trash bag will be good enough. We’ll get through this, Mom.”

“We will because I’ve got you,” her mother said. “Don’t let anything EJ said bring you down.”

Too late. It always happened and it always would.