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“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, bolting up out of my chair.
“It means she will do her best to paint you as an irresponsible party girl who will probably just sell the property to pay off her old fiancé. She’s already suggested you’ll just turn it over to Jon Rayburn to flip and sell to strangers.”
“Look, Beau, don’t take this the wrong way. I know you’re just the bearer of bad tidings and all, but my grandmother left me this property with no strings attached. It’s really none of Bertha’s business if I paint it hot pink, install poles in the living room, and open it up as a studio to teach the fine art of stripping.”
There was a chuckle from the other end of the phone. No doubt Beau was thinking about the outrage such a thing would cause in a place like Muskrat Creek. After a moment, he cleared his throat and spoke to me in an even tone.
“Listen Rain, I’m not saying she can be successful with her claim, but I can’t tell you it’s entirely impossible. If she can come up with enough of a challenge that it becomes a close call, I can’t say that the judge won’t call it in favor of an elder in this community over a young woman who has been off in California for most of the last decade or so, especially if they perceive you as the sort of person who might have taken advantage of your grandmother with lies. Plus, there may be more to the claim that I’ve yet to see. I won’t know until I get the filing from them.”
“I don’t understand her. She’s never cared for me. Even before Uncle Jack died, she saw me as a burden on my grandmother. I was a little girl when Mom and Dad died! Was I supposed to get my own place and a job?”
“We’ll deal with it, Rain,” he reassured me.
I took a deep breath, trying to wrap my head around this nonsense while calming myself down. When I finally spoke, I tried to sound a little more on top of my emotions.
“So, what do I do, Beau?”
“For now, just don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself. No wild nights out or parties. If you could patch things up with your fiancé or settle your business out there, it might go a ways toward making you appear a bit more trustworthy.”
“That’s not going to happen. I mean, I can behave around here. I had no intentions of getting out of hand while I’m here, but things with my fiancé, Shaun, are over. There’s no going back, and, because of that, I’m going to have to give up my end of the clinic.”
“Then I suggest you do it quickly, and you wouldn’t do yourself any damage by moving on, finding someone else to show that you are in a solid relationship and not the sort of person she’s going to make you out to be.”
“Doesn’t that make me look worse if I just broke up with my fiancé and immediately jump to someone else?”
“It could, but we’ll counter with you being family-oriented and just eager to start a family. You’re from here, so surely there is someone around here you’ve known a while that you could get heavily interested in before the court date.”
“Right. And when is this court date, anyway?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll have to get back to you on that. I’ll call you to come back in when I get the official details from the court.”
“OK, Beau. Thanks.”
I ended the call and dropped my phone back into the pocket of my pullover then plopped back down in the chair and contemplated what he had said. It made no sense to me, but since when had anything in this town ever made sense? I thought about calling Aunt Bertha directly, but I knew I’d only get angry, and she’d probably use that against me somehow, as well.
She’d never liked my parents. They were too liberal for such a small town, and too nomadic. Before they died, we had lived in several states, always moving at least every couple of years.
Still, Grandma had always tried to be kind to Aunt Bertha, and she’d been mostly polite in return. Now that Grandma was gone, I guess she saw no reason to continue the charade of being anything other than the bitter old woman she was, jealous of anyone who was a little different from her and whatever they might have that she didn’t.
I sighed and walked to the fridge to grab a bottle of water, then stepped out the front door to the large wraparound porch, intent upon sitting on the swing mounted from the rafters above. I glanced out across the yard, and I noticed a crumpled figure on the grass. At first, I couldn’t determine what it was, but then it sunk in, and I bolted down the front steps, dropping my water on the ground.
