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“Oh, Elise, I guess you haven’t heard. Scott and I divorced a year ago. We kept things civil until the house sold, but it turned out we had different goals for the future. I wanted to expand Eaton Cycles and Scott wanted to expand his sexual encounters to include a tailor and a flight steward.”

I covered my mouth, wanting to laugh so hysterically that my chest hurt from holding it in. Elise’s fake charm morphed into anger that she wasn’t the first person to know about Bridges’ divorce. She prided herself on knowing all the gossip, all the time.

Mom stood and walked over to him. “I’m so glad you’re here, Bridges. We understand why you couldn’t attend the service, but I appreciate the flowers you sent to the house. Thank you for coming. Claude told me about your divorce, and I’m so sorry. I should have had you over to the house for dinner, but that was around the time when Claude was diagnosed. How are you doing, dear?”

My father died from an aggressive form of cancer that had metastasized into his bones, lungs, and brain. He tried to be strong for as long as he could, but he was diagnosed in January and died in early May. It was a difficult time for Mom and me.

“I’ve stayed busy with work. I’ve taken on another engineer I met when I was at Penn State for grad school. She’s going to be a big help with designing bikes and expanding the website. Her name is Alexis Costa. She’s a stickler for details and has helped streamline my creative process. With her assistance, I’ve been able to take on twice as many clients, which is fantastic, but we need an administrator to take care of the crap we’re not good at handling. We’re the creatives, not the process gurus.”

Bridges turned to Uncle Ed. “Hi, Edmond. You didn’t mention why you needed me here. What can I do?”

Uncle Ed glanced toward me and grinned. “Do you mind letting Bridges have your seat? You can sit on the windowsill.” He pointed to the large window that offered a view of Times Square.

Bridges protested. “That’s not necessary, Edmond. I can stand.” Bridges winked at me, and my heart raced in my chest. If my mother hadn’t been sitting there, I might have come a little.

Uncle Ed sighed. “Okay, everyone. Let’s get started. Uh, Bridges, Claude named you as the executor of his Last Will and Testament. He’s allotted a stipend for you because he wanted you to know he respected that your time was as important as his. None of the assets named in the will can be distributed for one year except the East Hampton house. Everything else stays in trust for a year until the fate of Aames Investments is decided.”

“Oh, hell, Ed. No. That’s not something I’ll be good at. I’ll gladly do anything I can to help out. Claude was like a big brother to me. Dad and I went through a rough patch when I was younger, and if I didn’t have Claude to discuss things with and give me advice, I’m not sure my father and I would be speaking today.”

I stared at Bridges to see he was as sincere as anyone I’d ever met. My father meant a lot to him, which was a comfort to me. Bridges and my father had a special friendship that I envied. I’d tried to go along when they went biking together but Dad always said, “Maybe next time.” There was never a next time, though as I got older, Dad and I would take biking trips, just the two of us.

As a kid who was just figuring out his sexuality, I’d stare at Bridges when he came around. If Dad had let me go on their bike rides, I’d probably have wrecked and done some serious damage to myself since I probably would have been staring at Bridges the whole time.

In my childish mind—though, still today when I thought about him—Bridges was the perfect man. I compared every boy or man who came into my life against him. Few made the cut as I weighed the attributes on every level, but then again, Bridges was a spectacular person I didn’t believe anyone could ever live up to.

Uncle Edmond smiled. “Sorry, Bridges, but Claude was sure you’d be more than fair and not carry the bias I have against them.” He pointed at CJ and Claudia.

It was no secret that Uncle Ed didn’t care for my father’s first wife or their offspring. He was the legal counsel for Aames Investments, and as I’d heard him say more than once, CJ and Claudia were parasites when it came to working at the company. Dead weight, as Uncle Edmond had called them, which didn’t piss off Dad the way I thought it would.

Dad had said it more than once to Mom. The wrath of Elise was more than he wanted to endure by firing his children. “What else are they going to do if they don’t work for Aames? They have no common sense at all.” After saying it, Dad would shake his head.

I took a breath. “So, can we get on with it?”

Uncle Edmond nodded. “This is the Last Will and Testament of Claude Raymond Aames.”

Everyone settled down, and my eyes fixed on Bridges as Uncle Edmond read the document. “I, Claude Raymond Aames...”

Uncle Ed read through the whole preamble of the will. And when he got to the part where the property was divided, I focused on Elise, CJ, and Claudia. They were like hungry wolves who’d stumbled upon an untended flock of sheep.

“To Claude Junior and Claudia, I leave the East Hampton estate to be shared equally between them. They enjoy the property, and I hope they bring their families to the beach for years to come.”

I glanced at Bridges to see no reaction from him at all. I could remember him coming to the beach house over the summers during his college years and post-graduation, though the pictures I’d seen on the walls of my parents’ homes confirmed he was already turning gray at nineteen.

I was too young to remember much about Bridges from back then. He was twenty years older than me, as my father reminded me when I got starry-eyed staring at the photos in our family albums of Dad and Bridges on biking trips while I was growing up. Bridges was still mighty fine. My crush on the man would last into perpetuity.

Uncle Edmond continued his recitation. “CJ and Claudia will keep their jobs at Aames Investments for one calendar year commencing after my death. If they haven’t proven their worth to the firm in that time, their jobs can be terminated without a severance package above their family trusts. The two of them may remain on the Board of Directors for an additional three years.”

The gasps from both of them were fucking music to my ears. They were both idiots, and I was sure CJ thought he would be named as Dad’s successor at Aames. I was thrilled that he wasn’t.

Uncle Ed went through certain personal affects—an old rifle, a Masonic ring, and a book he wanted CJ to have. There was a broach, necklace, and a specific needlepoint pillow for Claudia. Those items belonged to our grandparents, and they were important for Dad to give to my siblings. There was nothing for me, but I didn’t care.

Dad’s parents died before I was born, and he spoke of them as if they were royalty. Based on the shit I’d researched about them and the slumlord business they ran in Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, they were nothing to be proud of.

“To Elise, my former wife, I leave absolutely nothing. You sucked me dry when we got divorced, and that’s all I’m willing to give you.” Uncle Edmond smirked as he said it.

I turned, catching the outraged expression on Elise’s face. When CJ laughed, I glanced at Bridges to see him cover his mouth.

Uncle Edmond turned to me. “And to my son, Weston, I leave the possibility to create your own legacy.”