The next day, we filed into the lawyer's office and found seats scattered around the room. My family took the couch, filling it up with mom, dad, and me. My brother and his girlfriend took chairs at one side of the lawyer’s desk while my sister sat on the arm of the couch. My two aunts took the other two chairs on the other side of the lawyer’s desk and my uncle leaned against the wall in the corner. I reminded myself that I needed to speak to Blaine after the reading of the will was over.

The lawyer flipped open a folder on his desk and glanced down the front page. "We're just waiting for one more to arrive. Then we can start," he said. "I am very sorry for your loss. Maddie was an incredible woman. We'll all miss her."

"Thank you," Dad said.

The clock ticked through another ten minutes until it was five after the hour. The lawyer glanced at his watch, then up at the clock, and then back down at us. "We'll just give it another five minutes," he said. "If he's not here then, we’ll start without him."

I wondered who this other person was. All my family was already in the room. Then, just before the five minutes was up, the door opened again and Lew walked in.

"Sorry," he said as he closed the door quietly. "I had some trouble getting out of work."

He was wearing his scrubs from the retirement home, his name badge still pinned to his chest with his full name Llewellyn printed on it. I thought the dark blue looked good on him —it made his skin look whiter and his eyes bluer.

The lawyer glanced around the room. "Let me just grab a chair for you from reception." He slipped out the door, leaving Lew standing awkwardly against the wall beside it.

I bolted to my feet. "Here, you take my seat." I stepped out of the way and gestured at the now empty space.

He gave me a look and for a moment I thought he was going to refuse, but then he nodded and walked across the room to take the seat beside my dad.

"Thank you," he said and gave me a level look that was hard to interpret.

I dipped my head in his direction and waited for the lawyer to come back with another chair.

Once we were all settled, the lawyer pulled out a sheaf of papers and laid them out on the surface of his desk. "I won't bore you with all the details, just go through the list of what there is and who is getting what." He glanced up at us all and asked, "Any questions before we begin?"

We all shook our heads and waited.

It kind of went the way we'd expected. Most of Grandma's estate was divided between my dad and his siblings. She'd left her Oscar to me with a joke about making sure it was always on a higher shelf than the ones I was going to win. I noticed Lew becoming more and more uncomfortable as the reading continued and wished I could reach out and take his hand, but as boneheaded as I was I knew that this was not the time for that kind of demonstration.

"And for the last thing," the lawyer said. "I have a letter for Llewellyn King that Ms. West requested he read." He stood up and stepped around the edge of the desk, a sealed envelope in his hand

Lew stared blankly at him, then rose jerkily to his feet and accepted the envelope. "Thank you." He sat down like someone had taken his legs out from underneath him and clutched the envelope tightly.

That's all? That's all she left him? It seemed out of character for Grandma to have Lew come all the way down here just for a letter. I met Mom's eyes over Lew's head and saw the puzzlement I was feeling reflected in hers.

"And that's it. We have to wait six months in case anyone else comes forward with a claim, but if no one contacts me then I'll be getting in touch with each of you to distribute the assets as per the instructions in the will." He came around to shake everyone's hand and I didn't think it was my imagination when he pressed Lew's a little longer than was necessary. I fought down a surge of jealousy—I didn't have any right to get between Lew and another alpha. The lawyer was probably too old for him anyway. Lew wasn't the kind of guy to just marry where he was told, or marry for security.

Though maybe that had changed after what I'd done to him?

I left the lawyer's office with a new worry to chew on and I couldn’t keep my eyes off Lew as he crossed the street for the bus stop down the road, the envelope still clutched tightly in one hand.