what the heart wants

chapter 3: look at these walls i built

I looked at the half empty beer I had in my hand. I was once again at The Happy Drinker. “Mili,” Rich said as he wiped the bar. I smiled over to him. 

“Rich!” I said feeling the effect of the beers I’d drank, along with 4 shots of tequila. Good stuff. 

“What happened now? I thought you were finally getting everything together,” Rich said as he leaned on the bar. 

“I thought so too but....I just came from a dinner with my sisters and Mrs. Laid.” Glad that’s over!

“Oh....now I get it.” Freakin Mrs. Laid, who wouldn’t shut up about James’ new girl. Blegh. 

“I forgot how much of a bitch she can be. And well I may have quit my job back at home.....ok I lied I got fired.” Rich rolled his eyes. 

“First of all, you already knew Mrs. Laid was no fan of yours. Secondly, it’s good thing you did get fired, I think you should move back here. And lastly, what are you worrying about? You don’t even have to work,” Rich said. I drank the last drops from my beer. He was right. 

“You know I hate not working, it’s not meant for me. Plus what would I tell my family when I’m not working but living better than they’ve ever had, that I won the lottery?”

“You mean to tell me that you have not told them about my brother’s gift?” I sighed.

“It never came up.” You see, the thing is Rich’s brother was put in a home when he was in his 50’s. He had a stroke, and he never really ended up the same and his children didn’t feel like putting up with him, and his wife was 15 years younger so she got together with someone else pretty soon after. Then, I was a freshman at high school, and I was volunteering at the hospital. That was where I met Rich and Sammy, Rich’s big brother. I already knew Rich, because I was washing dishes for a restaurant Rich used to work at, but we never really talked. My grandfather was like a father to Rich, and so he had a special place in his heart for all of us. I was 7 when my grandfather died from cancer. So I never really had a grandfather to spoil me as I grew up. Anyway, I walked into a patient’s room, because I was hiding from Grumpy Gracie, a nurse who hated teen volunteers. Inside the room I met Sammy, I recognized Rich, and I immediately grew attached to Sammy. He was older than Rich, and he was like the grandfather I always wished for. So, when he was sent to a home, and Rich was torn because he didn’t have the place, or time to watch over his big brother in his home. That’s when I began to visit Sammy about 5 to 6 times a week, in comparison to Rich’s once a week. Anyway, all through out high school I visited Sammy, of course no one knew I did, not even James. So, one evening, Sammy was lucid, however he didn’t remember me, and so I called Rich. Sammy was lucid for a week, and in that week Sammy, the REAL Sammy, told me I was the grandchild he had always wanted (even though he did have grandchildren, he’d never met any of them). After the week came to an end to quickly, Sammy was no longer lucid. A couple of days after that, he passed away. That was the only time I’d gone to a funeral, and it was horrible. I’d been at the cemetery for my grandfather, but not to the actual wake. By then James and I were married so we both went, and then I wasn’t able to get myself to tell him how I met Sammy. 

One day I stopped by to see how Rich was doing. He had taken over the restaurant and had turned it into a bar. Then he told me that Sammy had left me pretty much all his money. I never touched it until I was divorced and living with my parents. Rich helped me apply, and with some of the money Sammy left I paid for school and I was able to live in the dorms. I was left enough money to never have to work in my life, but I couldn’t do that. So, I had this enormous fortune that no one knew about, not even Sammy’s kids, which I never met. Sammy had left me under Rich’s watch, so if I want some money I just run it by Rich. I’d give all that money so Sammy was back, but of course that won’t happen, and Rich warned me that if I were to speak publicly about the money, his kids would for sure sue me.