Page 57 of My One

“Sure.” Avery pulled out his wallet and then slid his driver’s license across the desk with the slip of paper that had the box number on it.

The banker typed something on his computer. “I’m sorry, Mr. Scott. This box isn’t under your name.”

“It’s my mother’s,” Avery advised him.

“Then she’ll need to come in with her I.D.”

“Unfortunately, she passed last Friday.”

The banker frowned slightly. “I’m sorry to hear that. To access the box, you’ll need a copy of her will—”

“Oh,” I piped up. “I have that.”

“And a copy of the death certificate,” the banker went on.

“We don’t have that,” Avery advised.

“Then I’m sorry. I can’t let you access it.”

“There’s nothing you can do?” I questioned.

The guy sat back in his chair, thinking. “Well, the only other thing would be if you have a note from the coroner.”

“Really?” Avery asked.

“Yeah. I’ll accept that if you can get it.”

Avery stood. “We’ll be back. Thank you.”

We told Brooke and Easton what was going on, and they decided to drive down to the beach to give us some time to sort things out. After running to the coroner’s office, we were able to get a signed letter from Arnold. He was more than happy to do it right away, given that he knew Denise.

“All right. Everything looks good,” the banker said once we returned with the letter. “Mr. Scott, if you’ll follow me.” I stood as well, ready to go with my husband. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Scott. I can only allow the person who’s willed the box into the back room.”

My gaze moved to Avery. “I’ll just grab whatever’s in there and bring it out for us to go through together,” he suggested.

“Okay,” I agreed with a smile. They were his belongings, and he could go through it without me, but my heart swelled when he suggested we go through it together. “I’ll text B and let her know we’re almost done.”

Avery turned and walked with the banker to what looked like a vault. I grabbed my phone out of my handbag and sent a text to Brooke:We’re almost done. Let’s do lunch. Come back to the bank, and we’ll take you guys to this taco stand that’s to die for.

I waited in the lobby area for Avery thinking about the tacos and what could be in the box. He wasn’t gone long, but the moment I saw a crestfallen look on his face, I sucked in a breath.

What the hell was in the box?

The banker took the key from me and opened the locked box before pulling the safety deposit box out of the slot and setting it on the table they had in the center of the vault. “Go ahead,” he instructed.

My plan was to grab whatever was inside and go out to look at it with Nicole. That was still my plan, but when I opened the lid, I was thrown off for a second by what I was looking at. I was expecting jewelry or money. Hell, a part of me thought it would be empty.

“Can I take everything?” I asked.

“Of course. It’s legally yours.”

I reached in to grab everything. “Did she have a bank account here?” I had yet to go over the entire will in detail. I knew there were bank accounts listed, but I had no clue if she had one here. I assumed she did since she had the safety deposit box.

“She did.”

“I’ll go ahead and close it and the safety deposit box.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Scott. While we know there’s a will naming you the sole beneficiary, we have to wait for a judge to grant you beneficiary status before you can close anything.”