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“Not as much fun as you had.”
I walked right into that one.
Stephanie realized that she wasn’t firing on all cylinders because of her lack of coffee sustenance. She needed to rectify that ASAP. She walked over to the coffee maker and started it as she ignored her sister’s descriptive comments detailing what she’d thought had transpired last night and pleas to “tell her everything.”
As the glorious sounds of percolating and the smell of java filled the air, she continued to ignore her sister and pressed play on the voicemail that had been left by the number she didn’t know, then lifted the phone to her ear. Simone was still talking in the background, demanding that Stephanie “not spare a single detail.”
She only caught every other word and the message didn’t make any sense.
“Shhhh,” she hushed her sister as she replayed the voicemail.
A woman’s voice she didn’t recognize played. “Hello, my name is Rory Lancing and I’m trying to reach a Miss Stephanie Holland. I am the attorney for Jasper Holland’s estate. My number is…”
Jasper Holland’s estate. Her father’s estate?
She tuned back just in time to hear, “Please call me immediately. Thank you.”
Stephanie went numb as she lowered the phone and stared at the screen that displayed the number of the attorney for her father’s estate.
“What’s wrong? Is it Scottie?” Simone rushed to her side, fear tingeing her voice. “Is he okay?”
Stephanie nodded. “He’s fine. Scott’s fine.”
“What is it? What’s wrong? You look like you saw a ghost.”
That’s what she felt like.
“Who was it? Who was on the phone?” her sister demanded. “What did they say?”
“It was an attorney. She says she represents Jasper Holland’s estate.”
“Jasper Holland’s estate?” Simone repeated back. “Our dad…? Is he…?”
“I don’t know.” Stephanie knew there was only one way to find out. She pressed the number and called it back.
Her sister stood silently in front of her as Stephanie spoke with the attorney.
The moment she said goodbye, before she’d even disconnected the call, her sister asked again, “Is he…?”
Stephanie nodded. “He had a heart attack on the golf course two days ago. By the time the paramedics arrived, he was gone.”
“Oh.” Simone said quietly as she stared blankly at Stephanie. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, are you okay?” The twins had no memories of their father, they were both so young when he left, but that didn’t mean that the news would be any less devastating.
“I think so.” Simone shrugged.
Before last night, Stephanie hadn’t thought about the man that had deserted her family for months, maybe even years. Then she’d talked to Ace about him and now he was gone. He’d been gone when she’d told him about her childhood. An uneasy feeling rose in her like floodwaters in a torrential downpour.
She had a sudden urge to call Ace. More than anything else she wanted to tell Ace what had happened. She needed to have him wrap his arms around her and hold her. She wanted to feel safe.
Somehow, in the span of twenty-four hours he had become her safe place. And it was gone. He was gone. And her father was gone.
Her father hadn’t been in her life in over twenty years, and Ace had only been in her life for twenty-four hours…so why did the fact that they were both gone suddenly make her feel so alone?
