Sage/Lyric…

We walk into the diner and it only takes one look around to see there is plenty of empty tables. Haddie walks towards one in the back corner. We follow behind her, but that woman has no slow speed. The only thing I am thinking of is the kiss between Botie and I. He took my breath away. Just bam! I know I initiated it all, but it felt so natural and yet so freeing. I don’t have a lot of experience with men or boys for that matter. I never dated in high school. My dad always warned me not to let a boy too close for the wrong reasons. I know he was trying to keep me from getting hurt by someone using me to get close to him. It’s not the entire reason I pushed people away from me—I just didn’t fit with most teenagers. I was not searching for the new fun thing, the latest rage, or my next high. Zane was really the only real friend I had. Sure, there were girls that said they were my friends, but they just wanted a glimpse at my famous dad. I never felt like they were real friends, but they loved to shop and come over to stay the night. I am not much of a shopper; I would rather be reading from my tablet or have a paperback in my hands. All in all, Zane was my only true friend. I shared my secrets with him and he shared his with me. Zane and I were the oldest of the band member’s children—the next one closest to our age was five years younger. I miss Zane and I want him and my entire band family to come visit very soon. I need to make that a priority. I called Zane over the years, many, many times and we have stayed close, but a phone call does not replace our long talks. I know Zane has both a boyfriend and girlfriend now. Zane has always been very open about his sexuality and I think that is one reason we bonded so closely. We could talk about anything and neither of us judged the other. We just accepted we loved each other like brother and sister even if he was my first kiss and I was his. We laugh about it now. I just want one of his big, bear hugs. I bring myself out of my thoughts and sit beside Haddie and the men follow suit. It doesn’t take long before the waitress comes over and starts to give us menus.

“I called in the order just a little while ago. It’s under my name and I would like an iced tea to go with mine, please,” Haddie tells the woman.

“I’ll have the same, Miss,” Roger says.

“I’d like a root beer,” Nick chimes in, then all eyes are on me.

“I’ll just have water, please,” I say, not even paying much attention. When the waitress looks up at me her eyes get big and I’m guessing news of the interview has already blasted around town. At least people will know who I am now. Not my exact plan but no turning back now. She walks away but keeps turning her head to look at me.

“You might as well get used to that from the townsfolks, for a little while anyway. You are the hot news—you won’t have anyone sticking a camera in your face—but they may get you with their phones and heads will turn when you walk in a room. If you ignore them the next hot story will come along. Nothing new-breaking but maybe some pigs or cows running through the town. The ladies get upset when their flower gardens are fertilized the natural way and their flowers trampled.” Nick is always looking on the bright side. I don’t know if I want to laugh at the idea of a pig or cow upstaging me or thank my lucky stars.

“We can only hope.” I can’t help but laugh.

“Lyric, be on guard, you know the media vans will be here soon and your mom is not going away,” Roger tells me, and I know he’s right.

“I ordered everyone chicken salad sandwiches with potato salad. It’s fast and they put the chicken salad on a buttery croissant.” I look at Haddie and know what she’s trying to do. She always tries to get me out of the hot seat.

“It’s alright Haddie, I am fine. Roger needs to discuss a few things with me before he goes back to Dallas and since I have no secrets from you and Nick and I respect both of your opinions it’s a good idea to discuss it now.” Haddie nods her head at me, understanding I have prepared myself for this.

“Moving forward then.” Roger stops talking, and I see the waitress is back with our drinks and the other waitress is right behind her with our food. I don’t see how that second woman doesn’t drop something. After everything is on the table, the second waitress leaves and our waitress looks at me and then lets her eyes fall on Haddie.

“Can I get you anything else for now?” I read the waitress’s name tag and I smile at her. I look around the table and everyone looks good for the minute.

“We are good Carly. Thank you.” I want to be liked and to be able to fit in here. I need to stop being so standoffish to people. Carly walks away. “Alright. Roger as you were saying.” I take a bite of my sandwich and Haddie is right, the croissant is very good. I pick up my napkin and put it in my lap.

“As I was saying, the press is inevitable. I can try to get a court order to keep them off your property, but as you know that doesn’t work very well. I mean out here the sheriff’s department is small, and their response time can’t be that fast in the country, or so I would guess. You could hire security but that defeats your purpose of being away from the big city.” Roger stops and waits for my input. I didn’t know I was so hungry. I have been scarfing down my food. I stop and think about it a few minutes.

“No, I don’t want any of the spot light. I have had enough in my life The media is looking for a sensational story. I am going to have a state-of-the-art security system put in my house. I don’t want anyone in my house or inside my fences, but they can come take all the pictures they want of me working in the dirt. I will post no-trespassing signs as the law requires but if they have long lenses, they can get pictures in some spots. I will prosecute anyone that comes on my property but if me dirty is what they want to see let them spin it as they want. I won’t be giving quotes or anymore interviews. It’s just like Nick said about the pigs and the cows, another hot story will come along, and they will get tired of seeing me work. Yep, I like it. If I am boring, they’ll forget me.” It makes sense to me.

“You know when we start the foundation in your dad’s name, you’ll need to do some interviews,” Roger reminds me.

“I know, and I will but only about business and I want the band involved with the music part too. It will be good publicity when they get the first album without my dad released. They have waited long enough. My dad wouldn’t want them quitting because he’s gone and if I have anything to say about it—they won’t.” I believe Dad would want the band to carry on with someone else singing and Zane would be the perfect person. He has a beautiful voice. “What do you think Nick?”

“I think it’s a clever idea, not that I have any experience with this at all. If you have a problem, we can get Botie to come over and check it out.” Nick eyes me for my reaction but I give none and Haddie is all ears and she winks at me.

“Then again you and I can always stay a few nights. I haven’t had a vacation in years.” Nick looks at Haddie and then at me.

“We could do that,” Nick says. “I still have my old shotgun and that will keep anyone out of the door.” Nick is serious.

“We don’t want any deaths on anyone’s conscience but if you have some rock salt that might work.” I see Nick knows I’m joking.

“We’ll see.” Nick gives it back to me.

“I’ll let you handle that then. Next thing, I didn’t think you would need to deal with this Collins thing until after your inheritance was completed.” Roger looks disturbed his time schedule was changed. “Your paternal grandmother, Sybil Collins Dade, was from a very wealthy family. They disowned her when she married your grandfather—Edward Travis Dade. Your grandfather was a good man, but he worked for a living when they first met and then married. Her family disowned her before the wedding, but she was wealthy from money given to her by her grandparents. Her family couldn’t cut that money off from her. She was over twenty-one and living on her own—her future was secured—but when your grandfather married her, he wouldn’t use a penny of her inheritance. Her family accused him of only wanting the marriage for her money and he was a stubborn man.” Roger stops and takes a drink of his tea. “Since your grandfather would not use the money—your grandmother vowed—she wouldn’t either., She put it in two trusts, one for your father who received most of it and the other for his children. Your grandfather went on and made a great deal of money on his own from his machine shop and some machinery he designed himself. You still receive royalties from those designs.” My dad never told me any of this. “Your dad decided if the Collins family couldn’t accept his dad then he didn’t want the money either. The money you have had access to is the money your dad set aside for you until you turned twenty-one. The money your grandfather left you, you received when you turned eighteen. I took care of all the paperwork since it wasn’t left originally to your name, only Baby Dade. When you turn twenty-one, you will not only get the inheritance from your dad but his trust from his mom as well. When you turn twenty-five you will receive the trust left to you from your grandmother.” I swallow the last of my sandwich and take a drink of water. That is more money than I can even think about. I consider my options.

“I agree with my dad. I don’t want it either. I want you to find a way to not owe the government a ton of money and find a beneficial use for it—maybe set it in a trust for my children—if I ever have them. Something my grandmother would have liked if she left the money for us. I didn’t know the woman. My grandfather supported my dad in his music but that is about all I know about him except he loved my dad and my grandmother. Dad said he started his music when he was fifteen and both his parents would go and watch wherever he played but his parents had him in their later years and when dad was still sixteen his dad died of either heart failure or a heart attack—I am not clear on which one. My dad turned seventeen soon after the death and his mom died right after that. He said his mom died of a broken heart because she had lost her soulmate.” That’s the kind of love I want. I know I keep telling myself that, but I want to be sure that I remember it always and I don’t want to ever settle for less. I just need to be patient. I hope this thing with Botie is something. It feels like nothing I have experienced before but I will not rush the two of us or force it. “I don’t need to make these decisions today or even this year, but I want to do my will and a living will. That’s about all the decisions I can make for a while. I don’t even know why Branton brought the Collins thing up and how did he know about something I wasn’t even aware of?”

“I would say it had to do with your mom. I was watching her like a hawk and she was enjoying you in the hot seat,” Haddie informs us.

“Katrina was made aware of the Collins’ inheritance as it was stated in the pre-nup. I did a very thorough job to make sure she couldn’t take anything more than they agreed upon—which brings me to something else I would like you to consider.” Roger looks at me and makes sure he has my full attention. “You know your dad would have paid Katrina if they had divorced. Travis was generous in the amount he awarded her because she agreed to leave any children born into the marriage. What if Travis’s estate awards her the amount she would have received if Travis and she had divorced. She would need to sign a written statement stating she is giving up and rights to your estate should anything happen to you. Then you could relax a little when it comes to your mom.” Roger makes sense, but I need to think about it. I have made so many decisions the last few months, I am going into overload and I don’t want to make a wrong decision. I know I will never let my mom get hurt. I don’t approve of some of the things she has done—who am I kidding? I don’t approve of most of the decisions she makes but I need to remember I am not her judge and jury. To love someone, and I do love my mom, is to accept their strengths and their shortcomings.

“Roger, can you look into it all? Is it even legal? I mean it sounds a bit morose but if you believe it will save me a headache, then iron out the kinks and we can go back over it. I know I’m putting a lot on your plate and you have other clients that need your assistance. If you need to hire someone to help then, please do, and you can cut a check from my account.” I don’t want to overwork Roger and take advantage of him.

“Lyric, I think what Roger has suggested might be in your best interest.” Nick gives his opinion.

“I agree.” Haddie looks a bit concerned.

“Don’t worry about overworking me Lyric. That’s why I have assistants and at the end of the year I will be closing my private practice. I’m not getting any younger but if you agree, I will be your personal attorney exclusively for the next few years. I will bring in another attorney so when I retire completely you will have an attorney already in place that you have worked with. Meg and I have bounced this idea around for a few months, but she still has four years left on her contract. She loves her work and I would never ask her to step away early. We can discuss this later. I know you need time to take in everything that has happened. I need to head back to Dallas. I will be out next week to visit your new home and discuss anything I have found. I want to make sure everything follows the letter of the law. The lunch was wonderful, but I need to get on the road.” I know I have no worries with Roger taking care of things. I wipe my napkin over my mouth and then put it on the table.

“Please excuse me for a minute.” I walk away from the table and find our waitress to give her the money for our lunch along with her tip. I know either Roger or Nick would have grabbed the ticket so I beat them to it. I thank Carly and head back to the table.

“You know you’re going to need to get used to gentlemen paying for your food around here, right?” Haddie asks me as soon as I get back to the table.

“It was my turn to treat everyone. My money spends as well as everyone else’s.” Nick laughs.

“Well, thank you little lady. I can’t wait until I tell all my buddies tomorrow that I had a pretty young lady buying me lunch today.” I never know what Nick will come up with next.

“Yes, Lyric, thank you. I can tell my lady friends that a pretty young lady bought me lunch today too. I’ll be the next scandal in Comfort. See, I can do my part—the heat will be off you sweetie.” Haddie and everyone laughs. Hearing Haddie call me Lyric is weird, but I like it. Everyone stands up from their seats and we leave. I have shopping to do for dinner.