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"But—" I couldn't finish the thought because it had already fled my brain. Val bought me a bus. He called it "our" business. And yet he hadn't responded to a single damn voicemail, email, or text since the day he'd left.
"Give her the papers," Ruth said to her husband.
Sylvester pulled a sheaf of papers, folded in half, out of his back pocket and offered it to me. "Val said to give you these."
I took the sheaf and unfolded it. An envelope fell out and fluttered to the ground.
Krista snatched it up and handed it to me.
"You go inside," Mom said, "and look through that stuff alone. We'll join you in a little while, after we get unpacked and settled in."
"I don't have enough rooms for all of you," I said. "I was expecting Ruth and Sylvester, not a small army."
"An army of people who love you," Krista said. "It was a surprise. We knew if we told you all of us were coming, you'd tell us not to."
I couldn't argue with that. I probably would have told them to stay away.
But I loved them so much for being here.
"We brought tents," Jeremy said. "And the bus is pretty sweet too, comfortable enough to sleep in."
My surprise guests headed for the guest house, and I returned to my house to read the papers Val had sent. Seated at the island, I set the sealed envelope on the wood surface. I wasn't ashamed to admit I was afraid to open that envelope, afraid of what I'd find inside it. The papers consisted of legal documents that altered the structure of my LLC to allow for a partner and that also iterated the terms of our partnership. Val had signed the documents. They required only my signature to become real. Little sticky flags marked the places where I needed to sign.
I stared at the envelope for a couple minutes after I read the legal documents. Then, finally, I summoned the nerve to rip it open. The envelope contained a single sheet of paper, a letter written in Val's hand. I read slowly, making sure I didn't miss a single syllable. A tingle chased over my skin, a kind of excitement I hadn't experienced before or since Val had been in residence here. I read the note three times, despite the fact the damn thing consisted of only eleven words.
"Wait for me," he said. "Thirty days and I'll be coming for you."
Coming for me? What, like I was a dog he'd sent to a kennel? He couldn't not call me for two weeks and then expect me to be thrilled he might come back for me in another month. He could've called or texted or emailed. Instead, he left me hanging.
And he expected me to sign the papers.
The sound of bare feet slapping on the wood floors pulled me out of my contemplation. I glanced over my shoulder to see Ollie racing out of the living room.
"You've gotta see this," he said, breathless.
He hugged my laptop to his chest.
I waved a dismissive hand. "I trust you to handle whatever it is."
Ollie had become my de facto assistant manager. He handled everything from paying bills to cleaning toilets, so I didn't understand what could be so important that I needed to see it.
"Not this," he said as he plopped onto the stool beside me and flipped up the laptop's lid. He pointed at the screen. "Look. Somebody sent you money."
I bent forward and squinted at the screen. It showed the company PayPal account, and there was indeed a new transfer. It had come from Valentim Silva.
"Val sent you ten thousand dollars," Ollie said.
The amount sounded familiar, and I grabbed the legal papers to flip through them again. Yep, there it was. Val's initial investment in the company, required to become a partner, was ten thousand dollars.
Why would he send the money before I signed the papers? Was he trying to force me to accept him as my business partner? I couldn't believe he would do that. Maybe I didn't know everything about Val, but I knew him well enough to realize his investment in the company was his way of showing he still wanted to be a part of my life.
So answer your damn phone, Val.
"Thank you for showing me this," I told Ollie as I leaped off the stool and grabbed the papers. "I have some private calls to make."
"No problem."
I turned to leave the room but hesitated. I looked at him over my shoulder. "Could you handle everything if I, um, took a vacation?"
