Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Coyote Ugly just the ones I make up in the story.

Chapter 10: Reading of the Will

June 3rd, 2000

11:00am

Kevin and I were waiting at Al's lawyer's office for Cammie to come. She was having an early lunch with her sister Lydia to discuss moving back in with her, her boyfriend and twin son and daughter, Cammie's niece and nephew who were two years old.

We didn't have long to wait because Cammie came with Rachel and Lil then we were called back into the lawyer's office where Zoe was waiting.

"Welcome, now that we have everybody here we can begin," the lawyer said putting on his glasses.

"Wait what about Al's sister? Did they tell her about him?" Cammie asked.

"Al stated when he met with me that he didn't want his sister involved in his affairs. He disowned her the day she robbed that convenience store. The prison system did tell her but she has no remorse whatsoever. Now on to the reading. He drew up this will a week before his only child was born so he has included her in this will. Now his life insurance policy is a total of 50 thousand dollars of which he leaves to his daughter, Sarah Evangeline Carter. He wishes that her mother, Camille Valenov, retain permanent custody of her. He wishes that the rest of his personal belongings be given to a church to sell at a rummage sale with proceeds benefiting the church of choice which is St. Catherine's Catholic Church in Brooklyn where Al's parents were members. Now Al wanted to be cremated and the ashes kept at his business. He did not want a funeral and wanted Camille to take care of his body and have it cremated appropriately. That's a short list of wishes but Al wanted the will to be kept simple, short and to the point," the lawyer finished.

"Well thank you for reading off his wishes. Now what would I need to do now?" Cammie asked.

"There is a funeral parlor that does cremation in Brooklyn not far from where you live now. The name of the place is Bartolson Funeral Home and Crematory. Here's the telephone number to call them. If you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask," the lawyer said giving Cammie his business card.

Minutes later we left the lawyer's office and saw that Al's best friend, Freddie, walking down the street. The lawyer's office wasn't that far from Al's tattoo parlor. Freddie helped Al run his shop.

"Hey Freddie," Cammie said but he just ignored her and kept on walking. Rachel went after him and he stopped dead in his tracks.

"What do you want?" Freddie said rudely.

"What's your problem Freddie? Cammie just wanted to tell you that Al's dead and wanted his ashes kept at the shop," Rachel said.

"I heard. I know a good place for his ashes-the garbage because that's where he belongs that jerk. You want to know what happened to make me feel this way? Al came in drunk last week and picked a fight with my girlfriend and I confronted him and he had the nerve to fire me. If I owned the place I would've fired him! As far as he's concerned he can rot and burn in hell!" Freddie said as he walked away.

Cammie and the rest of us just stood there in disbelief. We just shook our heads and got in our cars and drove off towards Cammie and Al's apartment to pack.

12:00

Cammie and Al's apartment

"You know, I loved Al to death but he had a lot of stuff. CD's, videos, porn. He had it all," Cammie said as she started putting stuff in boxes.

"Yeah. Let's throw the porn out and put the CD's and videos in boxes and mark them for St. Catherine's. Then we can start packing up yours and Sarah's stuff," I said to Cammie and we sorted everything in the living room and bedroom.

An hour later we packed all of Al's stuff in boxes and put them in the trunk of Kevin's car and packed all of Cammie's and Sarah's stuff and put it in Rachel's van and drove the two blocks to St. Catherine's and dropped off Al's stuff. The church deacon thanked us for the donations and we drove to Cammie's sister's townhouse and started unloading Cammie's stuff and put the boxes in the spare bedroom.

Just then Lydia came in the door with her two year old twins that she just picked up from day care after her intern shift at the hospital.

"Did you guys already pack up Al's stuff yet? Where did you donate it to?" Lydia asked.

"To the church he grew up in, St. Catherine's Catholic Church right here in Brooklyn," Cammie said as she picked Sarah up and rocked her gently.

"You can have the back room which you already claimed. When Sarah's older she can share the room across from mine with Mariah and Tristan," Lydia said as Cammie gave her the baby.

"Thank you Lydia. Did you tell Uncle Gustav that I was moving back?"

"Yes I did and he wants to offer you a job at his diner across the street so you can save some money up for college."

"Lydia, don't say that word!"

"C'mon Cammie you've put school off for 7 years. Why are you so afraid of college anyways?"

"If you haven't noticed Lydia my hair is blond. People will think that I'm just another dumb blonde. They won't take me seriously."

"Cammie stop caring about what people think. You're very smart. You would put those people to shame," Rachel said.

"Yeah and Uncle Gustav always wanted us to follow our dreams and get a college education. That's how he raised us. Mom and Dad would've wanted us to go to college too," Lydia said.

"Okay I'll go to the city college for an orientation meeting," Cammie said.

"Cammie, may I ask what your dreams are?" I asked.

"Well, I always wanted to be a fashion designer and have my name on all the clothing that's sold on fifth avenue," Cammie said.

"Well then go for it. I mean, when I was living in Jersey, everyone in my small town thought that I was going to get married and stay there like Gloria but I wanted to follow my dreams and wanted to write songs and have them sung by famous artists. I achieved my dream and if I can do it you can too," I explained.

"You're right Violet I should follow my dreams and show my daughter that I can and will get a college education. Thank you everybody for giving me encouragement and advice. I really appreciate it," Cammie said as she started unpacking her boxes and we helped her put stuff away.