Page 21 of Fierce-Matt

Hewasa dick back then.

A smitten one that had no game when it came to women, though he’d thought he had.

“I was wrong,” he said. “And I’m sorry. You’ve always been a friendly, upbeat person who I thought could take a joke. I just went too far all the time.”

Anya held his stare for what felt like minutes but was only a few seconds. “As I said earlier, it’s in the past and I need to move forward. That’s why I called you.”

He was going to get to that, but she brought it up. “Tell me about that. There are a lot of attorneys you could have called.”

“There are, but I thought of what you said. I’m not sure I believe it all, but you seemed sincere and I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.”

“I am,” he said. “I’m not sure how I can prove it to you.”

“You can earn my trust by helping me with our family situation,” she said. “That’s the first step.”

Shit. He wasn’t sure what she was asking.

He’d help, no doubt. But that didn’t mean he could give them the results they were looking for.

“What is it you need from me?”

“A couple of things. My parents need to redo their wills. You asked about EJ. I don’t know if you’re aware, but my brother and father never got along. My father always thought EJ would take over the business and he had no interest. He felt it was dying and he was right. Let’s be honest, big chains and online purchases, overnight shipping, and everything else have hurt over the years.”

“I can’t profess to know much about your father’s business, but I’m assuming the bulk of his clients were contractors who needed supplies on the spot?”

“They are or were. Many ordered through my father also rather than dealing online themselves. But the world has changed and he didn’t keep up with the times. He should have gone online like others and was slow to do it. He never caught up and the cost was more than he could invest when he knew he was going to retire.”

“It happens,” he said. It was not the first family-owned business that fell prey to the changing times.

“Aside from the wills being updated, my parents want to sue Shelly, so they need legal representation there. Medical proxies have to be updated for my mother and me in terms of my father’s care.”

“Not EJ?” he asked.

“No. EJ lives in Australia. We gave him every opportunity to be part of our decisions and his take is there isn’t anything in it for him. There’s nothing left for him to get and he and my father never got along, so he’s not interested in being involved. That’s the polite summary.”

Matt did not know any of that.

Phoebe had never talked about it. He wouldn’t have thought to ask.

He’d bet his parents knew though.

“And the not-so-polite summary?” he asked. “I’d like to know what I’m dealing with.”

“That I don’t trust him not to find any way he can to take what he thinks is his even while my mother is alive. My mother can and will care for my father right now. They have good insurance and a policy for long-term care. Something they got years ago as a precaution. It’s paying off for them now. EJ wants my parents’ house or the sale of the business to go in my name and his so that if my father ends up in a home, it’s not taken from them.”

“That is part of estate planning,” he said.

“Yeah, and the kids allow their parents to still have the only access to that money. EJ won’t. He’ll take it and spend it. No way.”

“What about putting it in your name?”

“I don’t want it,” she said, shaking her head. “If it comes down to that, sure, I’ll do what is right. But it’s a battle I’d have with EJ that I can’t take on if he found out. My mother and I are just touching the surface of everything. The way my father is declining, I’m not sure it matters.”

“Got it.”

He could tell it wasn’t a topic she wanted to talk more about.

“So let’s see. Wills, medical proxy, lawsuit.” She was counting on her hands. “Oh, the sale of the business. I’ll be listing it as thebusiness as a whole next week. My mother has auditors giving her an idea of the value. It’s more the building than anything. If there are no bites in the first two weeks, we’ll change it to only the building and start liquidating the supplies.”