James Grippando - Found money

“Call me Ryan. And you don’t have to thank me. I’m pretty eager to find out what this gift is you’re talking about.”

“Then I’ll just get right down to it. Like I said, I got a package a couple of weeks ago. When I tore away the brown paper wrapping, I found a box for a Crock-Pot. No return address, no card inside. I checked the serial number with the manufacturer and found out the warranty was registered in the name of Jeanette Duffy.”

“That’s my mom’s name.”

“Does she own a Crock-Pot?”

Ryan chuckled, thinking of the mounds of corned beef at the gathering at their house after the funeral. “You bet she does.”

“A Gemco Crock-Pot, by any chance?”

“As a matter of fact, it is. I was with my dad when he bought it for her.”

It was the added confirmation she needed. “Good. Anyway, I opened the box.”

“I assume there wasn’t a Crock-Pot inside.”

“No.” Her expression turned more serious.

“There was money it. A thousand dollars.” Amy watched his face carefully. She felt duplicitous, but it wasn’t entirely a lie. It did contain a thousand dollars. She just didn’t tell him that it also contained 199,000 more. Not yet, anyway.

“A thousand dollars, huh?”

“I don’t know if it was your mom or your dad who sent it. Either way, with your dad just passing away, I didn’t want to bother or upset your mom. That’s why I called you. Honestly, I’m not sure what to do.”

“Keep it.”

She was taken aback by the quick response. “No questions asked?”

Ryan shrugged. “I can’t see my mother doing something like this. So I assume it was my dad. He obviously wanted you to have it. You may not have known him, but somewhere along the line you must have shown him some kindness, or maybe he felt sorry for you for some reason. My dad was that way. It doesn’t surprise me he’d send money to someone like you. You seem nice enough. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if he sent lots of people money after he found out he was sick.”

The waitress interrupted. “One decaf cappuccino,” she said, serving Amy. “And a cup of black sludge for the gentleman.” She smirked. “Just kidding. It’s Brazilian blend. Anything else?”

“No, thank you,” said Ryan. She turned and left.

Amy emptied a pack of Equal into her decaf.

“Are you sure I should just keep it?”

“Hey, it’s a thousand dollars. We’re not talking Fort Knox here. Just don’t tell my wife I let you keep it. She’d probably sue me.”

Amy sensed an opening to the kind of personal details she wanted. “She’s fond of money, is she?”

“That’s an understatement. It’s the reason we’re getting divorced.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too. Fortunately, we don’t have any children. Just money problems.”

“Too much? Or not enough?”

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Kind of personal.”

“Sorry. It’s just a familiar story, I guess.” Amy hesitated. She didn’t want him to know too much about her, but if she told him something about herself, perhaps he’d give her the insights she wanted into the Duffy family. “You might say I’m a bit of an expert on the subject of money and marriage.”

“Is that so?”

“My ex-husband was an investment banker. Loaded. It only made him meaner, greedier, if you ask me.”

“You’re divorced now?”

“Yeah. And I’ll be honest with you. We may not be talking about Fort Knox here, as you say. But I appreciate your generosity. I can definitely use the money.”

“Your rich ex-husband doesn’t pay enough alimony, I take it.”

“Doesn’t pay any. Not a cent.”

Ryan kidded, “Do you have the name of his lawyer?”

She smiled, then turned serious. “Ted didn’t need a lawyer. After I filed for divorce, he threatened to hide a bag of cocaine in my truck and get me arrested, then use the drug conviction to keep me from getting custody of our daughter. I wasn’t sure if he meant it, but I couldn’t take the risk. We settled. I got what was important to me — my daughter. Ted got what was important to him: he pays no alimony and hardly enough child support to cover the monthly food bill.”

“Sounds pretty tough.”

“Actually, I’ve never been happier in my life.” She smiled, though it was another half-truth. Taylor was a total joy, but going to law school solely for the money made her feel like a hypocrite.

She raised her coffee mug. “A toast to your new life as a redneck.”

“A redneck?”

“It’s an acronym. Sounds like redneck, but it’s R-D-N-K. Recently Divorced, No Kids.”

Ryan smiled. “Never heard that one before.”

“I made it up. Cheers.”

“Cheers.”

She caught him watching her over the rim of his cup. The sudden silence could have been uncomfortable, but his eyes put her at ease. She blinked, reminding herself to stay on the subject. “Getting back to this money thing.”

“Of course. The money.”

“I was pretty nervous about it at first. Now that I’ve met you, it’s almost embarrassing to say what I was thinking. I was just afraid to keep it until I had some assurance that your dad was on the level.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, I was having all kinds of crazy thoughts. Maybe your dad was a notorious bank robber or something.”

Ryan smiled. “We’re talking about Piedmont Springs. The last time we had a bank robbery, I think Bonnie and Clyde were the prime suspects.”

She laughed lightly. “You’re a hard one to figure out, you know that?”

“How’s that?”

“A doctor who doesn’t worship money and hasn’t lost his sense of humor.”

“I guess I get that from my dad.”

“Were the two of you a lot alike?”

Ryan thought for a second. A week ago he would have given an unqualified yes. Now he hedged. “I think so. It’s funny. I was looking through some family albums after the funeral. Some old pictures of my dad really struck me. He looked almost exactly the way I look now. Put him in some modern clothes, change the hair a little, he probably could have passed for me.”

“That’s eerie, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. We’re all like our parents in some ways. But when you see such a strong physical resemblance, it really makes you wonder how much of what you are is predetermined.”

Amy got quiet. She’d often wondered that as well, the spitting image of her mother. “I know what you mean.”

“Now that he’s gone, I’m almost mad at myself for not getting to know him better. I’m not saying we weren’t close. But I never asked him the kind of questions that might help me better understand myself.”

“Sometimes we just don’t have the opportunity,” she said, thinking more of her own situation.

Ryan sipped his coffee. “Wow, this is getting kind of deep, isn’t it? You probably think I need a shrink or something.”

“Not at all.”

They talked casually for another fifteen minutes. Conversation came easily, considering the awkward circumstances. It was feeling more like a date than a meeting about money.

“Refills?” asked the waitress, sneaking up on them.

They exchanged a look. The meeting could easily have been over, but neither seemed to want to end it.

“I don’t have to be anywhere,” said Ryan.

Amy checked her watch, then made a face. “Yikes. Unfortunately, I do. I have to pick up my daughter.”

He looked disappointed. “Too bad.”

“I guess I didn’t think this would take very long.”

The waitress laid the bill on the table. Ryan grabbed it. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry I have to run off like this.”

“No problem.” He took a business card from his wallet, then jotted a number on the back. “Let me give you my home number, just in case any other questions come to mind. About the money, I mean.”