Chapter 29 BreakingMeDown

The next morning I was walking through the law firms doors at nine forty five am. I smiled and the receptionist smiled back as I approached her desk and I spoke. "Hi, I'm Bailey Hollis and I have a ten o'clock appointment with Mr. Avery please."

"One moment please and I'll let him know that you are here Ms. Hollis." She smiled again as she picked up her telephone and dialed what I assumed was Avery's extension. "Richard, Ms. Hollis is here for your ten o'clock appointment. Mhm, yes, okay then. Yes sir, I'll do that." Hanging up the receiver she turned her attention back to where I stood. "Mr. Avery is ready to see you now. Just go down this hallway here and he will be in the third office to the left."

"Thank you," I said as I nervously turned and headed through the doorway and down the long hall. Before I was a third of the way down the hall a short, round man with red cheeks and a badly receding hairline emerged from the third doorway to the left. He wore an old, plaid, three piece suit that was too short in the arms, too long in the legs, and too tight in the middle. The pale, faded gray of the suit was worn even paler in the elbow and knee areas. The man appeared unkempt, and the same time he appeared capable.

As I approached, he extended his hand to me and I took it, offering a firm handshake. "The elusive Ms. Bailey Hollis, thank you for coming down today. This shouldn't take more than half an hour here. I have all of his banking information and all of the necessary documents to either transfer it to your current account, or for you to change the name on his account to take possession of it as well." He paused as we entered his small office. "Please have a seat Ms. Hollis," he said extending his hand toward what looked like an antique armchair.

"Thank you," I said as I sat in the chair. "You said bank information. I wasn't aware that Brandon had any sort of financial stability."

He gave me a quizzical look, one that said surely I had to of known what I was about to be gifted from my dead ex-boyfriend. "Oh, yes ma'am, Mr. Slater had quite the bank account in fact. He also had two very nice properties and two top of the line vehicles." I sat in shock, and it had to of been written on my face. "Ms. Hollis, take a look at this. It will explain just was willed to you."

I took the papers that he pushed across the desk into my trembling hands. I allowed my eyes to run over the black letters on the snow white page. The more I read the more in shock I was. Five million in the bank, one multi-million dollar home in a gated community in Alpharetta and another multi-million dollar home in Manhattan. Then the cars, a Lamborghini valued at half a million dollars and some change was the prize there. The other car a Lexus SUV was valued at approximately one hundred thousand. All of this was now mine, but where on earth had it all come from?

"And this is all accurate? You're certain that this is… that it was his?"

"Yes ma'am I am quite certain. Now, I just need to get your signature on a few pages here. Well, a bit more than a few but it won't take long. Just sign on the lines highlighted in yellow and marked with the X. While you're doing that I can get the copies of your photo ID and that should be all we need."

I dug in my purse until I had found my license and I slid it across the desk to him, still in a daze. I let the pen run across the lines with the X, my name taking claim on the things I never knew existed, given by a man who I never thought would have given them. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't wrap my mind around all of this. After I signed the last line I let the pen drop to the desk and let my head drop into my hands.

"Ms. Hollis, are you sure that you're alright? Can I get you a water or something?"

"No, no thank you," I said looking up at him. I felt the tears on my face then. "I'm fine, really I am. I'm just confused about all of this, you don't understand how our relationship was. But really, I'll be fine soon."

"Well, okay then. If you've finished signing, we're just about done. You have to witness me signing the papers as well. Then you're free to go. The bank is expecting you."

"Oh, I didn't realize that it had to be done today."

"As I mentioned, this is a time sensitive matter, and time is running out."

I nodded. "Yes, yes you did. Okay, well then I guess I'm heading there now."

It was much the same at the bank as it had been at the law office. Copies of photo id's and signing more papers than I was sure they needed. I even had to submit to fingerprinting in order to get things taken care of. It was an hour and a half before I climbed back into my truck. I had a zip lock bag on the seat beside me. Inside was the keys to the homes and cars, and three envelopes. One held the banking information and another held the deeds to the homes, all of which were now in my name. The final one held the titles to the cars, also now in my name. I couldn't even look at the bag, I still had so much to process about Brandon leaving this stuff to me. In fact my mind was so consumed with the contents of that gallon sized zip lock that I didn't even notice Brantley's truck in my yard when I pulled in.

"Bailey," his voice rang loud, and deep, edged with his raspy twang. I jumped as I put the key in the door and turned it. "I'm sorry Bay, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Brantley what are you doing here?"

"Hopefully fixing things. Baygirl I'm so sorry, for everything. I'm sorry I made you feel the way that you did."

I sighed. I had less than no energy to deal with this with him right now. "Come in, please."

I walked straight to the kitchen, not waiting on him, and tossed the ziplock bag on the counter on my way to the fridge. I pulled out two beers, sitting one on the counter for Brantley, I popped the lid off of mine and took a long sip from it.

"Brant, just look me in the eye and tell me that you are not cheating on me."

His eyes met mine and he said to me, "Bailey, I'm not cheating. I promise you, you're my girl."

"Okay then, that's that. I don't wanna discuss it again." With a nod he looked at the clear bag on my counter and nodded his head toward it, acknowledging it's presence. "What's this?"

I picked up the bag and motioned for him to follow me to the bedroom. I climbed up on my large bed when we got there and sat Indian style at the pillows. I emptied out the contents of the bag on the bed between us. "I guess that maybe this is Brandon's way of apologizing for the hell."

His brows furrowed in confusion. "What? What are you talking about Bailey? Did you go see him or something?"

I explained everything to him and struggled to understand it all a bit more as I did. When I finished talking I watched as he ran his hands over his face and as he heaved a heavy sigh. He stood and paced back and forth between my bed and dresser for a full minute before he spoke.

"So what are you gonna do with it all?"

I sat silent for a minute, processing his question, searching for the best one. Then it came to me. "Well, I'm selling off the two houses and the cars and donating every dime to women's abuse causes and shelters. The bank account can be a rainy day fund."

He gave me a soft smile and brushed a stray strand of hair, pausing his pacing. "Sounds perfect Baygirl. I can drive that Lambo just once though, right? Please?" He poked out his bottom lip in a pout and hit me with some pretty powerful puppy dog eyes.

I laughed and threw a pillow at him. He easily caught it and mixed his laughs with mine. Then he was on top of me tickling me until I thought I was going to wet my pants laughing so much. An hour later I was trying to catch my breath, my ribs even hurt from the laughter. I let my head rest on his chest and listened to his heart song. My heart felt full and yet my brain was still shooting it's warnings at me.