Page 234 of Promising You
“Thank you for lunch.” I get my car keys out.
“No, honey, we’re not leaving yet. I just had to get something from my purse. Your flight leaves later tonight, right?”
“Yes. At 6.” I put my keys away.
“Then we have time.” She runs her hand up and down an envelope that’s now lying on the table.
“Did you get a letter?” I ask her.
“No. This is something for you.”
“Oh.” I look at it, confused. “Do you want me to open it?”
She shakes her head. “Not yet.”
She’s struggling and I don’t know why. I put my hand on hers. “What is it Grace? Is something wrong?”
“I just have a hard time talking about him.” I notice that her lips are quivering and her eyes are watery.
I scoot my chair closer to her. “I know. I miss him, too.”
She smiles and wipes the corners of her eyes with her napkin. “He was so happy taking you sailing. I can’t tell you how much that meant to him.” She laughs a little. “After you’d leave he’d say how quickly you learned what he taught you. He’d repeat all the questions you asked him. His whole face lit up when he talked about you. Even before I met you, he told me all about you. How you were valedictorian of your high school. How well you were doing at Moorhurst. He was so proud.”
Now she’s makingmetear up. Dammit!
She takes a deep breath and smiles like she’s determined to stop crying about Arlin’s death. I know because it’s the same determination I’m trying to force upon myself with the loss of Garret.
“Jade, honey,” she continues. “You already know Arlin and I wanted to pay for your college. So this will take care of that.” She taps the envelope but still doesn’t give it to me. “But we wanted to do more for you.”
The waiter comes to refill her coffee and she waits for him to leave before continuing.
“Arlin was a very successful man and he wanted to share that success with his family. So before he passed, he put some money into a trust for you. We did it now because if we waited until both Arlin and I were gone, it would cause confusion among the rest of the family. They wouldn’t understand why we gave you this.”
She hands me the envelope. I open it and pull out a sheet of paper. There’s some legal jargon on it and a seal at the bottom. And then I see my name. And next to it is a number. A very large number with a dollar sign in front of it.
I can’t speak. I don’t even think I’m breathing. I’m too shocked. I stare at it thinking I must be reading it wrong but the number doesn’t change.
It’s 50 million dollars. Fifty. Million. Dollars.
I force myself to breathe again.
“It’s yours, Jade, to use as you see fit. Arlin and I wanted you to have whatever type of future you want. This will help you do that.”
“No. It’s way too much. I don’t need this much.”
She smiles. “It’s a lot, but it’s not too much. Remember, honey, we’re billionaires. It takes a lot of millions to make a billion.”
I guess that’s true, but still. Fifty million? I get my wallet out and give her the credit card she gave me back in March. “Then I don’t need this anymore.”
She gives it back. “Take it. Use it until you get out of school and then you can get your own. That’s the deal we have with all the grandchildren.”
“But I have—”
“Jade. Use the credit card until you graduate. Arlin was very insistent on that and so am I. You can use the money from the trust later on.”
I look at the paper again and the amount and my mind immediately thinks of Frank and Ryan. “Are there any restrictions on how I can use this? Because I was just wondering if it’s okay if I give a little to Frank. With his illness, he hasn’t been able to work, so he could really use some money. He wouldn’t waste it. I swear. He’d just use it for groceries and maybe to fix up his house. And his son really needs a new car and some help paying for med school.”
She nods. “It’s your money. You can give Frank as much as you want.”
