Chương 8
Tyler gave her a tired look.
“Because you don’t follow Dad on Instagram?”
Against her will, Eleanor smiled.
“No.”
“He told everybody he was simplifying.”
“Your father has never simplified anything voluntarily.”
Tyler almost smiled back.
Then the expression vanished.
“He also asked me what I thought the lake house was worth.”
Anna said, “When?”
“Maybe two months ago.”
“What did you say?”
“I don’t know. Three million? Four? I was guessing.”
“What did he say?”
“He said I was low.”
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
Daniel’s mouth was a flat line.
Anna asked, “Did he say why he wanted to know?”
“He said once Grandma transferred it, he might leverage some equity to expand the company.”
Eleanor’s stomach tightened.
“What company?”
Tyler stared at her.
“Whitmore Development.”
Eleanor knew the name.
Richard had used it for years.
She also knew the company had not built anything substantial in at least eighteen months.
“What expansion?”
Tyler shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Anna’s phone rang.
The title company.
She answered and stepped outside.
Nobody spoke while she was gone.
Tyler turned his mug slowly on the table.
Finally he said, “He really thought it was his.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Did Grandpa promise him?”
“Probably.”
Tyler frowned.
“That sounds like you don’t know.”
“I know your grandfather.”
She looked toward the trust documents.
“James once promised your aunt Caroline the New York apartment after three martinis because she said she liked the view.”
Tyler blinked.
“We had a New York apartment?”
“For eleven months.”
“What happened to it?”
“I hated it.”
Tyler laughed.
The laugh died quickly.
Eleanor continued.
“Your grandfather said things when he wanted people to feel secure. Sometimes he meant them in the moment.”
“But legally?”
“Legally, he created the trust with me. When he died, I became the sole trustee. The lake property remains in the trust. Richard has no present ownership.”
“Does Dad know?”
“Yes.”
“Then why—”
“Because knowing something and accepting it are not the same.”
Anna came back inside.
She closed the screen door carefully.
“Richard signed a letter of intent with a buyer.”
No one moved.
Eleanor said, “To sell my house?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does not exactly mean?”
“The buyer is a private investment group. Richard represented himself as the incoming controlling trustee and stated that title authority would be finalized before closing.”
Daniel stared.
Tyler whispered, “Jesus.”
Anna continued.
“The letter is nonbinding. No sale occurred. No title transferred. But they were preparing diligence.”
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
Eleanor sat very still.
Anna set her phone on the table.
“They have copies of property surveys, tax records and some renovation estimates.”
Daniel straightened.
“Renovation estimates from who?”
“They wouldn’t say.”
“I gave Richard copies of the dock and roof bids,” Eleanor said.
Daniel looked at her.
“When?”
“In May.”
He turned away.
Not angrily.
Worse.
Disappointed.
Eleanor felt a childish urge to defend herself.
“He said he wanted to understand future costs.”
Daniel rubbed a hand over his face.
“I told you he was collecting information.”
“You said he was nosy.”
“I was trying to be polite.”
Tyler stared at the table.
“What buyer?”
Anna gave the name.
Tyler’s head lifted.
“I know them.”
Everyone looked at him.
“They bought that resort outside Madison. Dad took me to dinner with one of their guys.”
“When?” Eleanor asked.
“June.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That they might partner on a redevelopment.”
“A redevelopment of what?”
Tyler’s face had gone pale.
“I thought he meant the marina.”
Daniel said, “There’s no marina deal.”
Tyler looked sick.
Anna asked, “Did your father mention the lake house at dinner?”
“Not exactly. He kept saying shoreline access.”
Eleanor looked through the window toward a strip of water visible between the trees.
The Whitmore property included nearly four hundred feet of lakefront, unusually deep access, and a private dock large enough for three boats.
James had bought it in 1989, when neither of them could comfortably afford it.
For years Eleanor had thought of the house as a collection of summers.
Richard apparently thought of it in square feet and shoreline footage.
That should have made her angry.
Instead she remembered him at eight years old, asleep on the dock with a fishing rod across his chest.
The memory did not make the adult man less responsible.
It made the whole thing worse.
Anna said, “There’s more.”
Daniel groaned.
“Of course there is.”
“The buyer advanced Richard’s company a due-diligence deposit.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“How much?”
“Two hundred fifty thousand.”
Tyler swore.
Anna continued.
“They believed it was refundable under certain conditions and creditable toward a future joint venture.”
“Did Richard spend it?”
“We don’t know.”
Tyler looked at Eleanor.
“He’s in trouble.”
“Yes.”
The screen door opened.
Everyone turned.
Richard stood outside.
He wore a fresh navy polo, khaki shorts and dark sunglasses.
For one second the cottage felt too small for him.
Daniel moved toward the door.
Richard held up both hands.
“I’m not here to fight.”
“No,” Daniel said. “You’re not coming in.”
Richard looked past him.
“Mom.”
Eleanor’s heartbeat changed.
She hated that her body still reacted to him before her mind did.
“Stay there,” she said.
Richard removed his sunglasses.
His eyes were bloodshot.
“Can we talk?”
“We are talking.”
“Without an audience.”
“No.”
He looked at Tyler.
His face hardened.
“So you came here.”
Tyler stood.
“Don’t.”
“I told you to give us one day.”
“You threatened my tuition.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Oh, grow up. I told you actions have consequences.”
Eleanor almost admired the phrase.
Almost.
Tyler’s face went red.
“Yeah. I’m starting to understand that.”
Richard turned to Anna.
“You had no right calling that buyer.”
“I represent the trust.”
“You interfered with my business.”
“You attempted a transaction involving trust property you do not control.”
“I did not attempt to sell anything.”
Anna’s expression remained neutral.
“You represented yourself as incoming controlling trustee.”
“Because I was supposed to be.”
May you like
Eleanor said, “According to whom?”
Richard looked at her.
